By Binta Jaiteh
Hon Fabakary Tombong Jatta, Speaker of the National Assembly has tagged the Africa Economic Summit 2023 timely as the continent is grappling with economic challenges and political upheavals.
The two-day summit attended by Speaker Jatta held at Accra, Ghana brought together government and Non-Governmental Organizations interested in achieving sustainable economic development across Africa.
He said the summit is expected to avail delegates the opportunity to establish concrete pathways to address the continent’s compelling economic issues.
“It is worth noting that the economic problems besetting our continent need purely African solutions and as such, delegates are expected to candidly engage in discussions to provide strategic guidelines noting that for greater economic competitiveness in African nations,” he stated.
According to him, Africa and the world at large are still reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine War, and the unfavourable global economic outlook forecast by the IMF and World Bank. “These coupled with the political instabilities, poverty, and underdevelopment in Africa make it all the more necessary for duty bearers like ourselves to engage in forums of this nature to reflect, think outside the box, and proffer initiatives to position our continent in the vanguard of innovation, investment, and development,” he reminded the participants.
The Speaker added that as the summit brought together the finest of thoughts, he does not doubt that it will broaden business and political leaders’ insight into continental issues of great significance in the quest to address definitively the economic challenges from an African perspective.
However, he said they have high hopes that the African Economic Summit will facilitate new investments, encourage business development, share best practices, guarantee effective networking, offer new industrial insight, showcase excellence, and promote thought leadership.
