Pretoria – South Africa is gearing to host the hundreds of officials who will descend on Durban to attend the World Economic Forum on Africa, in May.
The forum’s 27th Africa meeting will be held from 3 to 5 May and will focus on driving economic transformation in Africa through inclusive growth models.
Prospects for growth and development in Sub-Saharan Africa are mixed in 2017. The region accounts for some of the world’s fastest growing economies but it is also home to countries whose commodity-dependent economies have struggled to adapt to structural downturns in prices.
The purpose of the meeting will be to convene leaders from across all stakeholder groups to define strategies and actions to restore the whole region on its path towards a sustainable, prosperous and inclusive future.
“Africa has a historic opportunity to shift the trajectory of its development by avoiding the excesses and mistakes made by countries in advanced parts of the world. But its success will depend on creating new models of growth that provide equality of opportunity to everyone and allow innovation to flourish,” said Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa, World Economic Forum.
In addition to advancing the concept of inclusive growth, many other issues critical to Africa’s long-term development will be covered in the meeting’s programme. These include education, skills and employment; entrepreneurship; energy; infrastructure and development finance; combating, adapting to and building resilience against climate change; and science, technology and innovation.
Over 900 participants are expected at the World Economic Forum on Africa, including forum member companies, representatives from government, international organisations, civil society, academia, media and the arts. – SAnews.gov.za
