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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Economic Development in Africa Report 2015 was prepared by a team of UNCTAD contributors: Junior Roy Davis (team leader), Laura Páez and Bineswaree Bolaky. The work was completed under the overall supervision of Taffere Tesfachew, Director of the Division for Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes at UNCTAD. An ad hoc expert group meeting on unlocking the potential of African services trade was held in Geneva on 21–22 January 2015 to conduct a peer review of the report. The meeting brought together specialists in the fields of services trade, finance, economic development and trade policy in Africa. The participants at the meeting were David Luke, Coordinator, African Trade Policy Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Jane Drake-Brockman, Senior Services Adviser, International Trade Centre; Stephen Gelb, Director, World Trade Institute; and Vinaye Dey Ancharaz, Senior Development Economist, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. Also participating were members of the Economic Development in Africa Report team. The following UNCTAD staff members also participated in the meeting and/or made comments on the draft: Lisa Borgatti, Mussie Delelegn, Sara Emanuelsson, Masataka Fujita, Samuel Gayi, Jan Hoffmann, Martine Julsaint Kidane, Joachim Karl, Benjamin McCarthy, Ahmad Mukhtar, Patrick Nwokedi Osakwe, Claudia Roethlisberger, Amelia Santos-Paulino, Rolf Traeger, Pamela Ugaz, Guillermo Valles, David Woodward, Anida Yupari and Liping Zhang. Statistical assistance was provided by Agnès Collardeau-Angleys and Sanja Blazevic. Maria Bovey provided secretarial support. Sophie Combette designed the cover. Maritza Ascencios, Deniz Barki and Lucy Deleze-Black edited the report. Madasamyraja Rajalingam did the overall layout, graphics and desktop publishing.