Both Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari are not present at the current African Investment Forum in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire.
This comes as Adewumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AFDB), emphasized the benefits of funding the continent.
Other African officials, including President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Prime Minister Patrick Archi of Cote d’Ivoire, were reportedly in attendance.
Emmerson Mnagagwa, the president of Zimbabwe, Sahle-Work Zewde, the president of Ethiopia, and Jewel Taylor, the vice president of Liberia round out the group.
The Forum is themed “Building Economic Resilience Through Sustainable Investments”, targeted at attracting investment to the African Continent.
In his remarks, PM Cote D’Ivoire, Archi said the country is doing everything within its power to scale up investment in young people.
“Purchasing power of our population is growing, so the most important market will be Africa’s market. 60% of this market will be young people…in terms of talent, in terms of capacity…it’s a huge potential to unlock”, he said.
Also, the Vice President of Liberia, Taylor called for women’s inclusion in Microcredit.
“We shouldn’t limit women to microcredit because it never helps us to actually grow and develop,” she remarks.
Meanwhile, the AFDB president, Adesina noted that Africa remains an investment frontier in the world.
He said, “Africa is the investment frontier in the world – today and in the future”, he stated.
The AIF is a two-day event from 2nd to 4th November 2022.