President John Dramani Mahama has called on African leaders to undertake hard but necessary reforms to make the continent an attractive destination for investments.
President Mahama made the call on Thursday, August 21, when he co-chaired the second plenary session on the theme “Economy: Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa” at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama, Japan.
He co-chaired the session with former Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio. Other participants included Kenyan President William Ruto, Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, UN Under-Secretary-General Cristina Duarte, and Comoros President Azali Assoumani.
He said silencing the guns, ending conflicts, reforming economies to make them stable and predictable, and ensuring accountable, corruption-free governance were crucial to unlocking Africa’s potential.
In his concluding remarks, Mr. Mahama noted that TICAD-9 was taking place at a time of a rapidly changing world order.
He observed that the world’s largest economy, which should drive global trade and investment, had become “more insular and transactional” in its relations with the rest of the world.
The President further stressed that Africa must be pragmatic.
‘’Africa is open for business. We wish to partner with any nation in the world on a win-win basis. But let’s not kid ourselves! Trade and investments will not come to Africa because we wish for it,” he concluded.
CBN
