Addis Ababa, May 19(ENA)--Africa's economic experts and academicians on Tuesday started a three-day meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala to debate development issues and the continent's opportunities and competitiveness in global trade, AFP reported.

The meeting hopes to develop the continent's collective voice in negotiations at the international front, including trade negotiations, AFP said. The meeting comes ahead of the annual meeting of the African Development Bank and the ECA symposium in Kampala from the weekend, which several heads of state are due to attend.

AFP quoted Ugandan Finance Minister Gerald Ssenduala as saying, "The challenge...is how to cope with trade practices that undermine demand for Africa's goods and services, mainly due to different forms of subsidies and tariff in the developed world."

"Africa needs to marshall all its efforts to negotiate the removal of unfair trade practices and this will need concerted negotiations," Ssenduala said.

The "Mainstreaming Trade Policy in National Development Strategies" conference will also receive a report on Africa's foreign debt situation, to be tabled before a meeting of finance ministers starting on Friday.

Africa's world export share had declined from 3.9 percent in 1970 to 1.9 percent in 2001, a negligible percentage in world trade, AFP quoted opening remarks at the meeting as saying.