The ambiance at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) 14th annual Africa Economic Summit, which took place in Maputo last week, was markedly more relaxed than previous gatherings in Durban, as participants and the media fell under the spell of the Mozambicans’ slower but friendly pace of life and took advantage of the city’s excellent food and nightlife.
Reflecting this more laid-back attitude was the rare sight of South African President Thabo Mbeki sitting under the large, shady trees outside the International Conference Centre (ICC) for a workshop on the topic of African leadership with Eskom chairperson Reuel Khoza, Mozambican and Nigerian officials, and other participants.
A few sessions and lunches were also held in large marquees on the ICC grounds, all making for a stark contrast with the modern but dark confines of the Durban ICC of previous years.
This year’s shortened schedule (two days in total rather than three) could have pointed to either a more relaxed attitude over the number of sessions taking place and topics discussed, or a lower number of participants. What is sure is that only three African presidents turned up — Mozamibque’s Joachim Chissano as the host for the entire meeting, Mbeki for two-thirds of the summit and Zambia’s Levi Mwanawasa for the final plenary session — compared with seven back in 2002 when the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) was launched.
The sense of urgency emanating from the WEF summit that year, and even in 2003, was largely lost in Mozambique, with the import of the Nepad launch now giving way to the “nuts and bolts” of implementation centering around largely technical issues. Mbeki probably summed it up best at the summit’s opening plenary when he urged participants to keep in mind that there are 53 members of the African Union and therefore decision-making is a slow process.
Even members of the media were caught up in the slower pace, coping well with intermittent power outages, a lack of internet connectivity, dodgy sound feeds and other technical glitches in the press centre.
From an organisational perspective, however, the ICC and the Mozambican capital coped extremely well with the onslaught of the roughly 550 summit delegates and about 100 members of the press — almost too well. Buses were laid on for all matter of transport, from the airport to hotels and on to the ICC, as well as to the various hotel dinner venues, with police escorts present to clear offending private vehicles from the roads.
This left little time or reason for interaction with the locals, and many street vendors and restaurant owners must have been left wondering how they could possibly have benefited from Maputo having hosted the event.
Still, stories circulating around the summit did tell of wonderful seafood dinners enjoyed by delegates having shunned the organised entertainment, and, even more delightfully, of several top South African and European government officials partying into the wee hours of the morning at the local clubs.
For the host of next year’s event, rumoured to be Cape Town, it will be hard to outdo the hospitality and friendliness that surrounded the 2004 WEF summit in Maputo. — I-Net Bridge