ICLEI Africa Director leads Megacities session at the World Economic Forum on Africa meetings
2011/05/05
The 21st World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on Africa kicked off in Cape Town on 4 May 2011, with about 900 high level delegates, including heads of states, business leaders, politicians, academics and representatives of NGO’s gathering for the important three-day event.
The theme for this year’s WEF on Africa meeting is "From Vision to Action, Africa's Next Chapter”. It aims to tackle issues on how African economies can minimise their exposure to the fluctuation of commodity prices, and strengthen the voice of the African continent in international forums and bodies such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), G20 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 17th Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP17) taking place and the end of the year in Durban, South Africa.
Other key discussion points included industrial development, water, the green economy, financial markets, Zimbabwe and tourism.
Kobie Brand, Regional Director of the ICLEI Africa Secretariat actively participated in the WEF on Africa meetings, as the moderator of a session titled: “From Megacities to Mega-opportunities” which took place on Friday 6 May. This session’s panellists addressed the question of how the needs of a growing urban community can create opportunities for investment and growth. Panellists included the following high level representatives:
- Mohamed Alabbar: Chairman, Emaar Properties, United Arab Emirates
- Ruben Atekpe: Executive Chairman, Merchants Company of West Africa - MECOWA Group, Ghana
- Carlos Poñe: Chief Executive Officer South Africa and Southern Africa, ABB, South Africa
- Macky Sall: Mayor of Fatick, Senegal
- Christian Wessels: Head, Sub-Saharan Africa and Partner, Financial Services, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Germany.
After attending the opening days’ sessions, Brand highlighted sustainable urban development as a key underlying thread throughout the various discussions of the event, with particular emphasis on building the green economy in Africa. “The opportunities around the green economy in Africa are clearly gaining a lot of attention amongst delegates at the WEF, especially towards the global climate talks (UNFCCC COP17) taking place in South Africa at the end of this year,” she said.
South African President, Jacob Zuma, also steered delegates attention to the South African hosted COP17. He said: “Addressing the challenge of climate change cannot wait and is a matter of life and death. We have to come to an agreement that works for every party."
The WEF on Africa proceedings closed on Friday 6 May. The key outcomes of the session moderated by ICLEI Africa on the final day will be available on the ICLEI Africa website (www.iclei.org/africa).
