INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE EMERGENCE OFAFRICA: THE HEAD OF STATECHAIRS A HIGH LEVEL PANELWITH HIS COUNTERPART MACKY SALL

After theOpening Ceremonyof theInternational Conferenceon theemergence of Africa, thePresident of the Republic, HE Mr. Alassane Ouattara,with his counterpart from Senegal, HE Mr. Macky Sall, participated in,a high level panelon the vision ofemergencein Africaduring which, authoritiesfrom countries such as China, Malaysia andSouth Africashared theirexperiencesof emergence, before the watchful eyes ofrepresentativesof theWorld Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) who contributed to the debate.

For the Head of State of Senegal, “Emergenceis a challenge over the futurethat must be planned for”. This planning must take into account the fundamental issue ofgovernance with, as a corollary,the rule of law”.


He also added that Africamust face up to a number of specificchallenges,in order to move towardsemergence, includingpeace and security, for which the continent will have to fight terrorism and other forms of destabilization.

Furthermore, theHead of State of Senegalinsisted on the necessity for African Statestocarry out important economic and administrative reforms, which mustbe coupled with policies for the reduction of inequalities and a profound change in the mentalities of the populations.
To strengthen this dynamics of moving towardsemergence, the Vice-President for Africaof theWorld Bank, Mr. Maktar Diop recommendedthat African States invest in human capital and transform theireconomiesover time, by building a strong private sector and reducing the perception of risk.

To these recommendations, theVice-President of theAfDB, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa,added the need forAfricato have an importantlocal financial system.

In terms of sharing of experience, former President of South Africa, Thabo M’Beki,said that his country, which came out of long years of crisis marked by Apartheid had to give priority to the reconstruction of the nation,before dealing with issues ofdevelopment.

Whilst Malaysiathrough theMinisterattached to the Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Idriss Jala, said that his country began its developmenton the basis of an objectiveand shared vision,especially with actors from the private sector; after which, theauthoritiesgave themselves the means to finance this vision by moving away from budgetary requirements.

For his part, the Vice-Ministerfor Foreign Affairs of China, Mr. Zhang Ming, whilst reaffirminghis country’s attachment to supporting Africa’s development, recommended that African countries open up to the worldas China has done, but in the form of a partnership, rather than holding out a hand to ask for help.