Next week's African Economic Summit in Maputo "will be an opportunity to speed up the pace of economic and business reform which is holding back the potential of many African economies", according to a press release from the organisers, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.
To be held under the theme "Engaging Business in Development", the Economic Summit, meeting from 2-4 June, is expected to attract what the release calls "more than 550 leaders from all sectors of society and from more than 43 countries".
Among those due to attend are seven heads of state and government, including the Mozambican and South African Presidents, Joaquim Chissano and Thabo Mbeki.
The Director for Africa at the World Economic Forum, Haiko Alfeld, claimed "The Africa Economic Summit is an opportunity for the continent's leaders, both from business and politics, to move beyond listing African challenges to developing scalable action plans that unleash Africa's full potential." The release says that participants in the summit "will engage in dialogue aimed at producing results and advancing the cause of Africa's reintegration into the global economy".
The summit is to focus on the role of business in development. It will "highlight best practices, draw lessons, propose practical solutions and provoke concerted action to act as a catalyst for change and impact on the African development agenda", the release adds.
It lists key topics on the Summit's agenda as "showcasing African success stories; looking at the scope and scale of South-South collaboration; infrastructure development and its financing; African capital market development; enhancing regional integration by removing barriers to intra-regional trade, creating larger markets; and the global fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria".
The competitiveness of African economies will also be central to the meeting, during which the World Economic Forum will launch its third Africa Competitiveness Report.
"To grow, Africa requires first-rate levels of governance, sound infrastructure, coherent policy and an improved institutional climate for domestic and foreign investment", the release argues. "The crippling cost of doing business in Africa hinders the private sector from fulfilling its potential as the main engine of economic growth.
A few African countries are addressing these issues, moving towards growth rates that could lead to independence from foreign aid and enable sustainable growth from trade and investment". It cites the Chief Economist at the World Economic Forum, Augusto Lopez-Claros, as saying "While the political landscape in most of sub-Saharan Africa has significantly improved in recent years, a renaissance of Africa's economy has yet to take place".
Lopez-Claros adds "African countries have not yet succeeded in laying a foundation of macro-economic stability and a variety of structural and institutional rigidities have hampered growth performance. Indeed, it is difficult to point to a single group of African economies that have experienced high, sustained per capita income growth".
The summit will be co-chaired by two high-powered business figures - Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of the Anglo American corporation, and Vincent Maphai, the Chairman of the South African branch of BHP Billiton (which is the largest shareholder in the MOZAL aluminium smelter on the outskirts of Maputo).
Fonte: AIM
