President Akufo-Addo has charged a group of African researchers, industry, and policymakers to come with actionable proposals that will help African leaders to propel the African continent to rise above its current dependence on aid.
According to President Akufo-Addo, “the time to pursue a path of prosperity and self-respect for the African continent is now.”
Addressing participants of the 22nd Academy of African Business and Development (AABD) conference, held at the University of Professional Studies (UPSA), today 18 May 2022, President Akufo-Addo observed that the concept of Africa beyond aid, to him, “is about acknowledging that we have to develop in a sustainable manner, recognizing that we must take the bull by the horns and take responsibility for our sustainable growth while perceiving our fellow African countries as key stakeholders in our own development.”
“We seem to have missed out on many opportunities to make Africa the continent she deserves to be; rich and resilient. But it is not too late to right the wrongs, it is time to catch up now,” President Akufo-Addo said.
“It is time to create the future we want for our continent and it is time to start building that future inspired by the imperative to transform our economy from raw material producing and exporting economies to value adding industrial economies,” Akufo-Addo added.
In his address, the President noted, “Conferences such as the 22nd Academy of African Business and Development, provide an opportunity to rethink Africa’s development trajectory as well as explore other critical issues of importance on the continent that require our immediate attention.”
8 thematic areas
President Akufo-Addo, to this end, suggested some eight thematic areas that he believes the participants of the AABD Annual Conference can focus on. “For your part, you can play an active role and help us reach an ‘Africa beyond aid’ by;
A. “Ensuring that proceedings from this conference contains actionable proposals for consideration.”
B . “Focusing attention on the IMF’s unprecedented SGR reallocation for which Africa’s share is some 33 billion United States Dollars, much less than 100 billion United States Dollars promised in the 2019 Paris Summit intended to provide additional financial resources to address the vast and surging inequities the pandemic has revealed.”
C. “Articulating policies that will help strengthen African financial institutions like the African Development Bank, Afriexim Bank, and the Africa Finance Corporation to enable them take over greater responsibility for the financing of Africa’s development.”
D. “Advocating for debt cancelation for African countries to provide for sound foundation for our future progress.”
E. “Proposing measures to help increase significantly our capacity for domestic revenue mobilization with the average tax to GDP ratio in West Africa for example, standing at 18% and at 14.3% in Ghana, as opposed to the OECD’s average of 34% for its member states, to help finance our development potential, create opportunities for our vibrant and dynamic youth and deliver improved livelihoods for our people.”
F. “Re-evaluating the role of foreign credit rating agencies which act as gate keepers to global capital markets and their modus operandi, including the fixing of the so called ‘Africa risk premium’.”
G. “Examining the measures available to us to check the illicit outflow of capital outside the continent which is currently estimated at 100 billion dollars per year.”
H. “Placing the development of Africa at the centre of the preoccupations of the African diaspora.”
The 22nd AABD
The 22nd Academy of African Business and Development (AABD) conference begun on 17 and it is expected to end on 22 May, 2022.
The AABD conference brings together researchers, business practitioners, consultants, community leaders, and policy makers to engage in strategic dialogue on business and development in Africa.
The AABD annual conference aims at facilitating multidisciplinary research by stimulating collaborations between Africa-based researchers and professionals and their counterparts around the world.
This year’s conference, is under the theme “Sustainable Development Beyond Aid: The focus for Africa?” The UPSA is only the second university in Ghana to host the prestigious global conference.
The conference has delegates from across the African continent and they are expected to deliberate on issues relating to over 14 thematic areas, including Accounting, Finance, and Investment; International Aid, Economic Policies and Strategies; Entrepreneurship, Small Business and the Informal Sector Exporting, Internationalization and Foreign Direct Investment; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Transformation; and COVID-19 and Business in Africa.
Conference participants and presenters are drawn from the USA, South Africa, France, Denmark, India, Norway, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Romania, Ireland, Botswana, Kenya, and Zambia and Ghana.
