Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo.
Kola Sulaimon, AFP
- Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo told the World Economic Forum that the world economy was structured to benefit wealthy nations.
- He said lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, global recession, and war in Ukraine should awaken African leaders to their new realities.
- The private sector from the developed world was urged to invest in Africa’s growth because that is where the growing market is.
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo urged world leaders to rethink Africa’s place in the global community and work towards helping the continent become the new frontier for manufacturing, technology, and food production.
Addressing the World Economic Forum’s “Advancing the New Resilience Agenda” event on Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, Akufo-Addo called for the reshaping of globalisation because of lessons drawn from recent years, such as economic recession, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The world emerged from the grip of the coronavirus with energy and food price hikes and a worldwide rise in the cost of living; hence, the necessity for reform of the system is compelling.”
He said the world economy was structured to benefit wealthy nations, and that compromises the willingness for win-win scenarios among nations.
Akufo-Addo said:
The financial markets have been set up to operate on rules designed for the benefit of rich and developed nations, and, during times of crisis, the façade of international cooperation, under which they purport to operate, disappears.
“[This] has engendered a renewed commitment towards inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and economic integration.”
Akufo-Addo added that the current geopolitical problems should serve as an indicator for Africa that it should move towards self-sustainability, particularly as shown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which created a food security crisis for Africa.
“The intensity of the challenges we face today is only matched, like never before, by the immensity of the opportunity before us.
“We, the current leaders of Africa, should be determined not to waste the crisis that confronts us.
“Africa sees the current geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to rely less on food imports from outside the continent and use better our 60% global share of arable lands to increase food production,” he said.
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But for Africa to achieve its targets, Akufo-Addo added, there was a need for foreign direct investment from the private sector, which would in the long run yield good profits because Africa had the market and natural resources.
“Our message to the global investor community is that Africa is ready for business. Africa needs you and you need Africa. You need Africa because Africa is busily building the world’s largest single market of 1.3 billion people,” he said.
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