Mkapa talks to Obasanjo
The 5th African Leadership Forum convenes in Kigali with seven former African presidents putting their heads together to think of new ways of financing Africa’s transformation for sustainable development.
The ALF meeting will be officially opened on August 2nd to 3rd, 2018.
Former Presidents Benjamin W. Mkapa of Tanzania, Festus Mogae of Botswana, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Mohamed M. Marzouki of Tunisia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia, Joachim Chissano and Armando Guebuza (both of Mozambique) will be present.
They will be joined by Mukhisa Kituyi, the Secretary General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chairman and CEO of Dangote Group.
The meeting will exchange experiences and concrete ideas with the view to improving the continent’s performance.
The 5th ALF meet organized by Uongozi Institute in collaboration with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation will be held at Kigali Convention Centre between August 2 and3, 2018 under the theme: “Financing Africa’s Transformation for Sustainable Development.”
Uongozi officials said that participants “will try to understand the current and emerging context for financing Africa’s development; share successes and failures in national, regional, and continental attempts to address specific financing challenges and recommendations for unlocking increased financing for Africa’s development.”
“The biggest question on the floor will be asking if Africans are ready to take on increased responsibility for financing their transformation,” Uongozi’s communiqué reads in part.
Mkapa, Obasanjo and more on a panel of discussion during the ALF-tanzania 2014
African Development Bank (AfDB) last week launched the Africa Investment Forum (AIF) set to take place in South Africa in November 2018, to entice Africans to tap into major global investments of approximately $ 120 trillion.
At the Africa50 General Shareholders Meeting held in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi on July 19, 2018, AfDB president and Chairman of Africa50, Akinwumi Adesina, said that Africa needs to wake up and act by opening hindrances for more private investments.
“We must work smart to attract greater levels of investment financing for infrastructure development in Africa. Globally, there is approximately a US$ 120 trillion pool of savings and private equity. Africa must creatively attract some of this into the continent,” Adesina said.
Private sector infrastructure financing in Africa remains low, averaging US$ 6 billion per year. In 2016, the figure dipped to US$ 2.6 billion.
Adesina emphasized the importance of states tackling factors that inhibit private sector infrastructure investments, including high costs of financing, weak regulations, lack of cost reflective tariffs, low profitability, and weak regulatory frameworks for public-private partnerships.
