The Ministers of Finance of the CWA countries met on September 6, 2017 in Accra. The objectives of this meeting were to express commitment and support to the Compact agenda, take stock of progress to date, and outline the next steps, including a peer learning framework to address common challenges over the next three years.

It is important to ensure that the Compact with Africa translates into action on the ground and boosts private sector investment in each CWA country. The meeting addressed the critical role that the Compact can play in the collective economic transformation agendas of Africa and in overcoming some of the challenges in its implementation. Challenges exist in each of the three pillars of the Compact with Africa, whether the need to improve the business environment through standardization and improved incentives, or the need to improve domestic resource mobilization and public investments through investment friendly tax regimes and the allocation of public investment toward transformational goals. Other challenges could include the need to enhance financing through the creation of robust debt markets, or access to de-risking instruments. The meeting was an opportunity for Ministers of Finance to discuss how to leverage the Compact with Africa, ensure that a platform is in place to support it, and make it sustainable with enhanced private sector investment.