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ECA, based on information distilled from meetings of the LG, wasable to provide advisory and policy support to our member states,broker support from other development institutions and partners,and network expertise to assist African countries. In order to influencedonor policies in support of national poverty reduction strategiesin Africa, the outcome of the joint ECA/SPA Experts group meetingwas also formally communicated to the plenary meeting of theStrategic Partnership with Africa donor groups.The crucial role of the LG was recognized by the African (Ministerial)Plenary on the PRS and MDGs in Cairo in March, which called on ECAto revive the Learning Group and to broaden its mandate to includelearning on the Millennium Development Goals. My colleagues willtell you more about the LG and what we are doing since Cairo topromote peer learning on poverty reduction strategies and MDGssince Cairo.So, Ladies and Gentlemen, broadly, the LG does what your Conferenceseeks to do – disseminate knowledge on best practices on povertyreduction strategies and the MDGs. In many cases, there is adeep aversion for imagining the new, a reluctance to believe thatnew things can happen. A new idea – and there are many in the areaof economics and economic policy - triumphs not because those opposedto it are brought around (or undergo a Damascene conversion)but because it is embraced by a new generation. Through ourPeer Learning and Knowledge Sharing initiatives, we hope to encouragenew generations of African policymakers to embrace new ideasand thus steer our member states to the new, to innovate. Throughthis process we aim to help our member states build appropriateknowledge assets to secure and carry forward their impressive performancesof the rest past.In their book, “Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources ofGrowth in the Developing World”, Fairbanks and Lindsay advisedthat “leaders need to think about developing more sophisticatedknowledge assets.” It is my view that our leaders are already doingthat as evidenced by the set of policies and management techniquesthat they have introduced over the recent past, policies and managementtechniques that in part explain the recent improvements ineconomic performance. Your Conference will be a resounding suc-Integrating Africa279