Leadership and governance, keys to African development

"There has been progress but much remains to be done," the Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Abdoulie Janneh, stated this morning at Casa África's headquarters, following a lecture he gave to an audience full of officials, academics and the general public. The conference, called The importance of governance and leadership in the Agenda for Development of Africa, was preceded by a few words from the Casa Africa's Director General, Luis Padrón López, who explained the work of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, a private non profit making institution that stands out among the top five think tanks in the world.

Janneh said in his talk that there had been a slight improvement at continental level in governance and that this positive progress had been steady over the last five years. Leading in governance on the continent are positioned Mauritius, Cape Verde, Seychelles, Botswana and South Africa. He also noted that 13 of 52 African countries show significant improvements in different sectors, despite the dramatic deterioration in security in other countries and what this means for socio-economic transformation and stability in Africa. Finally, Janneh advocated the integration into a single market with a common currency without borders, perhaps inspired by the European Union as essential to achieve real development of the African continent and mentioned issues that require a global consensus and planetary solutions such as climate change or immigration.

"Africa is at a crucial turning point in its history," said the Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, before explaining the objectives of Agenda 2063, which has become the document around which his work for the compiling and contrast of data revolves.