Theme of the 2020 GA: “Public procurement for the economic development of Africa – Crises, challenges and way forward”.

Following the recommendations of the video conference held on March 13, 2020, the technical secretariat requested the contribution of all the delegates of the African Public Procurement Network (APPN), to the definition of the theme of the 2020 General Assembly.
Out of eight (8) proposals received by the technical secretariat, only one proposal was retained and will be discussed during the 2020 General Assembly.
These eight proposals come from member countries of the Network including Niger, Zambia, Comoros, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, donors such as the World Bank and AfDB, and certain resource persons who have been contacted individually. .
Following the work carried out by the Technical Secretariat in collaboration with a small group of resource persons during the video conference on May 15, 2020 under the chairmanship of the current president of APPN, it was chosen as the theme of the General Assembly of 2020 “Public procurement for the economic development of Africa – Crises, challenges and approaches for the future”.
In fact, this theme chosen for the 2020 APPN meeting to be held in Eswatini will have to respond to the interests of participants from different African countries in different aspects of public procurement; include topics that provide participants with information on how to address the public procurement challenges they are currently facing; inform the participants of the General Assembly, the efforts made by African countries and multinational development banks to meet the challenges of public procurement; and bring new and innovative developments in public procurement in Africa and around the world.
The General Assembly of APPN, scheduled to be held during the last week of October 2020 in Eswatini, will bring together officials in charge of public procurement from APPN member countries and allow them to discuss, among themselves and with international experts on the theme of the year.
This second APPN Assembly will allow, if the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic came to be mastered, to permanently make the public procurement system and more efficient with a view to the judicious use of public resources.