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Katherine Tweedie, Director and Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum.
Can you tell us why this year is a milestone year for the forum’s
relationship with the African continent?
Well, we’re delighted that 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the forum’s
engagement in Africa. And this year we will be holding the summit in East Africa
in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, hosted by His Excellency President Kikwete.
And who are the participants going to be and who are the co-chairs of this meeting?
Well, we expect over 800 leaders from all over Africa, all over the world
to attend the meeting in Dar es Salaam. We have five co-chairs including
Ajai Chowdhry, who is the founder and chairman of HDL Technologies from India.
We have JørgenHaslestad, who is the chief executive of Yara International.
From South Africa we have Pat Davies from Sasol as well as Kuseni Dlamini
from Old Mutual. And our fifth co-chair is Anna Tibaijuka from the UN-HABITAT.
And can you tell us a bit more about the program?
What are key highlights as you see them? And, also, what are the outcomes
that you’re hoping this meeting will achieve.
Well, the theme for this year’s meeting is Rethinking Africa’s Growth Strategy.
And I think, as come through the economic crisis, Africa has surprised
many with its resilience and a faster than expected recovery.
So key sessions throughout the course of the three days will be looking
at the drivers behind Africa’s growth including the social factors
that helped underpin the future for Africa.
And what kinds of sessions have you designed in order to bring these
leaders together to discuss these issues?
Well, we’ll be touching on a number of the key issues underpinning
Africa’s growth strategy from energy to infrastructure investments,
Africa’s capital markets. We have major session on trade hosted by Pascal Lamy
from the World Trade Organization where we’ll be bringing together key
participants in the trade agenda from government to business to look
at Africa’s involvement particularly from a business perspective in trade policy
within the continent and internationally. We have a number of other sessions
on social entrepreneurship, on empowerment of women and youth,
and, you know, probably a good discussion on the political future for Africa given
that there are a number of key elections that will be coming up in the next
eighteen months and the attendance of key political figures such as President Zuma
from South Africa and President Kikwete, our host.