More than 600 leaders from all sectors of society and from 46 countries will take part in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 14th Africa Economic Summit in Maputo, Mozambique, from June 2 to 4.
The theme of the event is Engaging Business in Development and the main purpose is to get business leaders and government ministers together to overcome the obstacles holding back the potential of many African economies.
To this end many successful projects such as the Mozal aluminium plant in Maputo will be showcased so that its success can be replicated elsewhere on the continent.
“The Africa Economic Summit is an opportunity for the continent’s leaders, both from business and politics, to move beyond listing African challenges to developing scalable action plans that unleash Africa’s full potential,” said Haiko Alfeld, director for Africa at the WEF.
For more than a decade, the Africa Economic Summit has consolidated its status as the region’s premier annual gathering of leaders from business, politics and civil society.
It has served as a unique platform to rally the key actors in a collaborative effort to address the major development challenges facing Africa and has galvanised a strong business contribution in support of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
The co-chairs for the summit will be Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairperson of Anglo American in the United Kingdom and Vincent Maphai, chairperson of BHP Billiton in South Africa. They will join other participants at the summit to tackle the crucial issues facing the continent.
In Maputo, participants will engage in dialogue aimed at producing results and advancing the cause of Africa’s reintegration into the global economy.
The opening period, for example, will have parallel sessions on Supplying China’s Boom, How Currency Volatility Affects Your Business, Forging New Alliances and Worldsourcing.
Focusing on the role and contribution of business in development, the summit will highlight best practices, draw lessons, propose practical solutions and provoke action to act as a catalyst for change and impact on the African development agenda.
Some of the key other topics on the summit’s agenda that have been championed by business leaders who have helped shape the programme are showcasing African success stories; looking at the scope and scale of south-south collaboration; infrastructure development and its financing; African capital market development; enhancing regional integration by removing barriers to intra-regional trade, creating larger markets; and the global fight against HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.
The WEF will be launching its third Africa Competitiveness Report 2004 on the first day of the gathering.
The WEF reports that accelerating the pace of development is crucial if Africa is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and reduce poverty, hunger and disease.
To grow, Africa requires first-rate levels of governance, sound infrastructure, coherent policy and an improved institutional climate for domestic and foreign investment.
The crippling cost of doing business in Africa hinders the private sector from fulfilling its potential as the main engine of economic growth.
A few African countries are addressing these issues, moving towards growth rates that could lead to independence from foreign aid and enable sustainable growth from trade and investment.
The Africa Competitiveness Report 2004 analyses some of the key challenges confronting policy makers in the region, whether in the area of macroeconomic management or in terms of the need to strengthen the quality of public-sector institutions, which must underpin economic reforms. — I-Net Bridge