The Africa summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) closed on Friday with participants agreeing that the continent had come a long way and that the prospects for the continent experiencing record-high economic growth were positive.
More than 700 political and business leaders, civil society representatives and academics attended the three-day event that provides a key platform for the study and discussion of the continent’s status and future and informs policy on and towards Africa.
Delegates agreed on the need to, among others, eliminate the skills crisis on the continent and reduce red tape to lower the cost of doing business in order to sustain the present 5,3% economic-growth trend.
”There is an upward movement,” Tanzania’s newly elected President Jakaya Kikwete said in his closing statement at the gathering held in the Cape Town convention centre.
WEF managing director Peter Torreele, meanwhile, declared with regard to the state of Africa and its outlook, ”the glass is more than half full”.
Despite being in the best economic position in 30 years, and featuring some of the world’s top performing countries, perceptions of Africa as a continent of conflict, underdevelopment and risk still linger.
Maria Ramos, the CEO of South African parastatal Transnet on Friday noted that Africa had come a long way since 1995, with 11 political conflicts settled in this time.
South African President Thabo Mbeki noted, however: ”We’ve got to scale up our capacity to prevent conflict and not only when they occur. But the rest of the world must scale up too.”
Mbeki and Kikwete also highlighted their views that African leaders have agreed to work together to develop agriculture as a means of fighting poverty and unemployment.
Africa’s blossoming relationship with the booming Asian economies of China and India also came into strong focus. Summit delegates explored the nature, opportunities and the potential for competition between Asia and Africa.
The summit saw the launch of a $100-million Investment Climate Facility for Africa to promote and drive the flow of confidence funds via investment into the continent, which has been the focus of donor aid rather than investment.
With a lifespan of seven years, the facility was an African Union initiative that has been picked up by the G8 community, Reuters chairperson Niall Fitzgerald said at the gathering.
It would amount to a partnership run on business lines with the philosophy that Africa would have to help itself to achieve and maintain economic growth, he explained. — Sapa-dpa