« Leveraging Partnerships to Promote Economic Diversification and Job Creation in African Economies » is the theme of the Fifth Investing in Africa Forum (FIA5). These 72-hour sessions open this Tuesday, September 10, 2019 in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

The AIF5 will examine how best to support economic diversification and job creation in African countries. It will also review progress and chart the way forward.

Through this forum, participants will have the opportunity to share relevant experiences in mobilizing private sector investment, alongside public sector efforts to stimulate economic activity and job creation.

The choice on this theme is justified by the fact that most of the economies of sub-Saharan Africa have experienced sustained growth over the last two decades, the expansion was largely driven by the commodity boom.

With a younger, fastest growing population in the world – expected to reach 1.3 billion people by 2030 – Africa needs to create one million jobs each month to meet growing needs. Hence the need to diversify African economies and create jobs for the future of the African continent.

Thus, to better debate this subject, the sessions will be organized around five pillars: Human Capital Development; Digital revolution, innovation and new service economy; Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and Business Climate; Industrialization and global value chains; Energy solutions that respect the climate.

As a reminder, the FIA ​​was established in 2015 as an international platform to promote multilateral cooperation and investment opportunities in Africa. It brings together several stakeholders each year, representatives from the private and public sectors of China and Africa, international and regional institutions, development partners and think tanks.

Its goal is to deepen the dialogue on development policies, share experiences and discuss business opportunities to support investment and sustainable development on the continent.

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) was the first capital city to receive the summit in July 2015. The 2016 and 2018 editions were held in China, including Changsha. The Senegalese capital, Dakar, has, for its part, hosted that of the year 2017.

The first four editions of the Forum demonstrated that cooperation between China and Africa is mutually beneficial and supports countries’ development strategies.

Nadine FULA