Abuja, 8 May 2014
President Kagame addressed a World Economic Forum plenary session titled Unlocking Job Creating Growth alongside Aliko Dagonte, CEO of Dangote Group; Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Oxfam; John Rice, the Vice Chairman and President & CEO GE Global Growth & Operations; and Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director, McKinsey & Company.
Moderated by Prof Schwab, founder of W.E.F, the session addressed strategy to ensure sustainable development. President Kagame called on nations to ensure equitable benefits for growth:
“We are talking about people. We are not talking about a few companies doing well at expense of others. We are talking about equity. We have to ask how an ordinary person can get involved in activity that will increase their income. It’s about asking how many have been reached, how many lives have been changed.”
President Kagame pointed to trade among African nations as key to sustainable growth:
“Intra-African trade has huge potential but how are we cooperating between nations of Africa. There are things we should not take for granted. We know what needs to be done, we know how things work and we
should make them work.”
Aliko Dangote emphasized the need for businesses to invest in their own nation and to produce:
“You have to invest your own money in Africa to create confidence for investors to invest in your country. The intra-trade of Africa is less than 15% of total trade within Africa Majority of what we are consuming is imported, this means we are importing poverty and exporting jobs.”