in conjunction with NYFA 2015
  CSI at NYFA
  • “If you are doing something that you really love, it is not work.”- Barclay Paul Okari
  • “What keeps you going [as an entrepreneur] is the need to see your idea come to fruition.”- Kwame Abrokwa
  • “African youth - there will not be the expected growth without your dreams. You need to create your job. In the DNA of Africans, the entrepreneurship gene is there.”- Karl Miville de Chene
  • “Let’s do everything to make sure youth are key stakeholders and are included.”- Michaëlle Jean
  • “Europe needs to do more in Africa so that African students can return to help their countries of origin.”- José Manuel Barroso
  • “The country cannot develop without you. Each of you has the opportunity to reach and accomplish your dreams. The continent of Africa is the continent of the future.”- H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba
  • “Africa’s strong economic growth (5 percent) is thanks to its youth, which will be the main source of production and innovation in the coming years.”- Lionel Zinsou
  • “Talent does not exist everywhere. The only difference between countries is access. Without having access, nothing will happen.”- Garry Kasparov
  • “African women have arrived.”- Isabel dos Santos
  • “There’s a preconceived idea on Africa which is totally obsolete. Africa is now the future.”- Laurent Fabius
  • “Ambition is a key factor in transformation. The will to transform a country has to be accompanied by action”- Hafid Elalami
  • “All the research shows that investing in women is a good investment”- Cherie Blair
  • “The 21st century is the century of Africa.”- Vincente Fox
  • “This Forum is a perfect example of Gabon's engagement as a future-thinking country, searching for innovative solutions to the challenges facing Africa in its economic growth.”- Alassane Ouattara
  • “Africa is now open to all investors. Its leaders are willing to preserve the continent’s resources and willing to engage in a win-win partnership.”- Macky Sall
  • “Together, we want to encourage young women to venture into new frontiers, and learn that they can achieve anything.”- Sylvia Bongo Ondimba
  • “Technology is spurring innovation, and the so-called "demographic dividend" has brought change.”- Nouriel Roubini
  • “We Africans must do business with each other.”- President F.W. de Klerk
  • “We need to have a competitive economy and proper legal environment to create enterprise, which in turn creates jobs.”- Jean-Louis Billon
  • “We need peace for security but we also need justice and accountability.”- Fatou Bensouda
  • “Given technology in tough environments, people will do more with that technology than its engineers could have ever imagined.”- Jared Cohen
  • “You look at Africa the biggest impediment is our not being able to work together. It’s very simple.”- Kola Karim
  • “If you get the politics and the policies right, the economics usually follow.”- Lord Mandelson
  • “The G.D.P. of african countries has been rising swiftly, but we must take into account issues like access to water supply, education, healthcare, infrastructure and employment.”- Olusegun Obasanjo

PRESS RELEASE

African Youth at the forefront of the 2nd edition of the New York Forum Africa

Libreville 14 June 2013, Over 1,500 participants (economic decision-makers, politicians, and international investors) and 10 Heads of State are today meeting for the second edition of the New York Forum AFRICA which will continue until 16 June 2013 in Libreville, Gabon. This forum aims at promoting inclusive economic development which, first and foremost, benefits young African people.

The second edition of the New York Forum Africa was today inaugurated in Libreville by Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Republic of Gabon, and by Richard Attias, organiser and founder of the New York Forum. Integration of African youth and economic growth of the continent were defined as the top priorities.

“The fact that we are instilling so much passion and energy into this Forum is for a single reason: for young Africans, of any sex”, stated Richard Attias at the opening of the Forum. “Economic decision-makers and politicians should ensure that African youth is made a top priority”. To underline the urgent need for integration of youth into the African growth strategy, it is reiterated that some 150 million young people were unemployed across the entire continent.

A time for Africa to shine

“The priority of our continent is our youth. Economic growth is meaningless if young Africans cannot benefit from it. Growth should be inclusive and people-oriented”, underlined President Ali Bongo Ondimba. In the presence of Heads of State from the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), who were meeting in an Extraordinary Session on the fringe of the Forum, Ali Bongo issued words of encouragement to his African counterparts so as to “collectively rise to the challenge of transforming the continent, to break free from the spiral of under-development and poverty by relying on our own resources. We are resolute towards making a break. We, the African people, must no longer be mere spectators, but rather stakeholders in our own development”.

Whilst many experts consider African development to be the most promising in the 21st century, Larry Summers, Professor and former Advisor to President Clinton and President Obama, asked to take the floor following inauguration, underlined that “in a world where lending countries talk and borrowing countries listen, it is about time that Africa found its voice and the world listened. Senegal has a lower borrowing rate that Greece, and Ghana has a lower rate than Ireland, whilst Gabon has a lower borrowing rate than Belgium and Chile”.

The New York Forum Africa centres on several major themes focusing on economic and commercial issues for Africa today, amongst which figure trade, transparency, confidence, investment, infrastructure, and growth. Amongst the main participants present were the following:

F.W. DE KLERK, President, Republic of South Africa (1989 – 1994) and Nobel peace Prize Winner (1993)
OLUSEGUN OBASANJO, President of Nigeria (1999 – 2007) and Founder, Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation
FATOU BENSOUDA, General Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, Republic of Gambia
ISABEL DOS SANTOS, PDG Unitel, Angola
THIERRY TANOH, CEO, Ecobank, Togo
BERTIN NAHUM, President and Founder, Medtech, France
MATTHIEU PIGASSE, Managing Director, Lazard France, France
LIONEL ZINSOU, CEO, Pai Partners, France
HUBERT VEDRINE, President, François Mitterrand Institute and former Minister for Foreign Affairs, France
NOURIEL ROUBINI, Co-Founder and President, Roubini Global Economics, USA

Consult the schedule and list of speakers at: http://www.ny-forum-africa.com/!

Find out more information about NYFA on your smartphone – Download the app
http://www.ny-forum-africa.com/fr/mobile

About New York Forum
The New York Forum® was set up with the conviction that business has arrived at a crossroads. It is crucial to send a strong optimistic message about the world economy’s future, to work towards redefining corporate governance, to create longterm value, and to re‐invent business models through bringing together all the economic players. Our goal focuses on consolidating the link between economic growth and job creation, on the importance of cities as key drivers of dynamism and innovation, on the challenges that are business leaders have to meet within a climate of volatility and uncertainty, and on the special opportunities created by the growth of emerging economies. http://www.ny‐forum.com

About Richard Attias & Associates
Richard Attias & Associates is a strategic communications firm that provides private consultancy, idea initiatives and live experiences. Our mission is to help leaders, corporations and nations build their global influence, catalyze innovation and lead the global exchange of ideas.
Richard Attias is the world's top community builder for the "thinking elite". He has been the executive producer of World Economic Forum summits, and notably Davos Forum, for 15 years. He is also the co‐founder of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and the Conference of Nobel Prize Winners.
Wit hits registered office in New York and with offices in Paris, Dubai, Casablanca and Beijing, Richard Attias & Associates has the primary goal of encouraging political and economic decision‐makers to take action. In this perspective, we develop international initiatives through the New York Forum Institute, a not‐for‐profit association, so as to encourage investment and have a positive impact on economic growth and job creation.
Richard Attias & Associates has recently developed many initiatives, amongst which the New York Forum, the New York Forum AFRICA, Doha GOALS, the Global Food Security Forum, the New York Times conferences "Schools for Tomorrow", "Energy for Tomorrow" and "DealBook" as well as the General Meetings of the African Development Bank in Marrakech.
Richard Attias & Associates will additionally organise the forthcoming African Games in Brazzaville in 2015.

Press contact:
Catherine Meddahi
[email protected]
+33 1 44 82 67 07

Contact

555 Madison Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10022 USA
P: +1 212 794 8801 | F: +1 212 794 8677
www.richardattiasassociates.com
Mail

Connect with us

Follow us on

Receive updates

Subscribe to our mailing list

SIGN UP
privacy policy   |   conditions of use