Addressing the Boma of Africa Festival on the ongoing global economic turmoil last Sunday, he noted that the current international instruments for resolving those crises lacked input from smaller economies.
Speaking in his capacity as the African Union (AU) Champion of Financial Institutions, the President expressed concern about how smaller economies, many of them in Africa, often suffered the harshest consequences during global downturns though they contributed the least to the causes of those upheavals.
The festival
The Boma of Africa festival is a series of insightful convenings to drive the African integration agenda through a strategic high-level engagement between the continental governance institutions, represented by the AU Commission, and the African private sector, represented by the AU’s strategic partner AfroChampions.
The Boma was instituted in response to a decision in 2019 by the AU Heads of State that a date in early July of every year should be set aside to mark and celebrate the effort to realize African integration.
Convened at the highest level, the Boma festival seeks to move beyond mere deliberations and instead to delve deep into actions; actions that can inspire Africans in various fields such as science and technology, education, and creative arts to hone our talents for our common good.
Global shifts
The AU Commission, in partnership with AfroChampions Initiative – a public-private partnership designed to galvanize African resources and institutions to support the emergence and success of the African private sector – hosted the Boma of Africa on the theme: “Taking stock of the Africa Century”.
The theme sought to explore the global shifts and continental developments shaping Africa’s quest to become a powerful global force by 2063.
Held virtually, the Boma for Africa involved the participation of heads of state, chief executive officers (CEOs) of global corporations, and other world leaders.
It tackled, among others, the launch of the AU Vaccine Passport and eHealth Backbone, the unveiling of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Hub, energy transition, and the AfCFTA Hackathon Prize ceremony.
Collective actions
President Akufo-Addo strongly urged the assembled leaders to prioritize and focus on collective actions to strengthen Africa’s influence in the global economic order.
He further called for efforts to speed up the emergence of a continental lender of last resort.
“Even a whole continent cannot alone withstand the full onslaught of a global economic nosedive. Global cooperation will remain at the base of any strategy for addressing crises of such nature,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo called for Africa to work together with a unified voice and approach to influencing the decisions taken at continental fora on crisis resolution.
He said in that same spirit of collective action at the continental level, Ghana had been a strong supporter of AU regional solutions such as the common African Vaccine Passport.