From World Stage

At the recent second annual Forbes Afrique Economic summit, Presidents Denis Sassou N’Guesso of Congo, Macky Sall of Senegal, John Mahama of Ghana, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and Jacob Zuma of South Africa all highlighted the importance of private-sector participation in Africa’s development.

The summit, which focused on infrastructure and the emergence of an African middle class, was attended by global leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former prime minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt, former US Ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, President of the leading opposition party in France, the UMP’s Jean-Francois Copé, as well as African business leaders Tony Elumelu, Patrice Motsepe and Louis Ebata.

The tone was set by President Denis Sassou N’Guesso, who highlighted the need for African countries to create more policies to support what he called “a powerful emergence of Africa’s middle class” who would create a better future for Africa. Macky Sall, President of Senegal, expanded on the four critical pillars that would drive this ‘better future’, citing education and training of human capital, modernized and mechanized agriculture, affordable energy and an adequate network of infrastructure as key drivers.

Advocating for increased private-sector participation in driving the development agenda, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana warned against an over-reliance on government when he said, “Government cannot leverage the sort of finance that is needed to create enough power in Africa.”

Read more at World Stage.