Key economic issues to be addressed at WEF Africa in Cape Town. PHOTO: GCIS Key economic issues to be addressed at WEF Africa in Cape Town. PHOTO: GCIS
CAPE TOWN – The World Economic Forum on Africa to be held in Cape Town will address a number of key issues facing the region’s inclusive development, the organisers said on Thursday.
WEF on Africa will take place in Cape Town, on September 4 - 6, under the theme “Shaping Inclusive Growth and Shared Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.
The organisers said the meeting will be the first that the Forum has held in sub-Saharan Africa since 2017 when leaders from government, business, and civil society from around the world gathered in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal.
This year’s meeting falls in a year when 20 elections will take place across the region, and nearly 100 days since South African President Cyril Ramaphosa took office. While progress has been made politically in sub-Saharan Africa, economic growth is also expected to accelerate modestly in 2019 from 3.1 percent in 2018 to an average of 3.6 percent in 2019, according to the World Bank.
According to the organisers, the Forum will address a number of key issues facing the region’s inclusive development, including supporting growth and integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area, creating high-quality employment opportunities and protecting workers in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and employing drones to address health, infrastructure and other societal needs, among others.
“Africa’s successful development depends on building the right conditions for its new generation of entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders. This means smart, agile institutions; an enabling environment for innovation that includes access to skills and capital; and a determined approach by policy-makers to level the playing field and implement policies that prioritise sustainable, inclusive growth over short-term imperatives,” said Elsie Kanza, head of the regional agenda, Africa, and member of the executive committee at the World Economic Forum.