WEF-Africa kicks off in Cape Town
Shaun Benton
4 June 2008
Hundreds of eminent people who play key roles in leading companies, associations, unions, governments and media organisations from around the world have converged in Cape Town for the 18th World Economic Forum on Africa.
The three-day meeting, which kicked off on Wednesday, is themed "capitalising on opportunity".
The WEF-Africa co-chairs this year include Aliko Dangote, president of chief executive of Nigeria's Dangote Group, E Neville Isdell, chairman and chief executive of that most global of brands, Coca-Cola, and Wendy Luhabe, chairperson of South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation.
The other two of the five co-chairs are Sadako Ogata, president of Japan's International Cooperation Agency, and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of the United Arab Emirates' major investor, Dubai World.
These five key figures in the machinations of the global economy will jointly kick-start the meeting, hosting an interactive opening session on "Africa Economic Brainstorming – Drivers of Change", which will hold a forward-looking prism to the major drivers of change that the continent will need to anticipate this year.
Complementary to this, another key session will look at the important nascent signals that could herald major changes in the near future, while another session will advance views crucial to understanding the global phenomenon of climate change and its local consequences.
Africa, with its historic bedrock of agricultural production at various levels, is expected to be hardest hit by this phenomenon and is facing losses estimated at between 1.9 percent and 2.7 percent of gross domestic product over coming years.
Kiyoshi Kurokawa, the science adviser to Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, will join a discussion on this with Mozambican President Armando Emilio Guebuza, among others.
Parallel sessions will also focus on global corporate citizenship, where Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF, will air remarks along with Coca-Cola boss Isdell and others.
Another session, will include an analysis of economic outlooks over the next 12 months, with South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel contributing along with Elizabeth Tankeu, commissioner for trade and industry for the Addis Ababa-headquartered African Union.
These are just a few of the sessions scheduled for Wednesday, giving an indication of scale of the three-day assembly; another focuses on malaria, noting that the continent is beginning to feel the positive impacts of the funding contributions of various "corporate champions and philanthropists".
Uncertainty - political and otherwise - in host country South Africa will also be tackled, with a look at confidence in the country's future and the roles of business, government and civil society in this
.Another key session will see a glance at "Afro-pessimism" by six Africans heads of state: President Mbeki; President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma; President John Kufour of Ghana; President Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi; President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi; Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga of Kenya; and Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua.
Moderated by Schwab, the discussion will look at the continent's "realistic potential", grappling with what are seen in some quarters as insurmountable challenges, while examining the possibilities of the world's final economic frontier in the age of globalisation.
And that's not even the end of the first day, with discussions and events going on until late in the evening, with the pattern of back-to-back and parallel sessions being repeated in equal measure until Friday, when the 18th WEF will close with a look at the possibilities of turning "adversity into opportunity" in Africa.
Source: BuaNews
