President Mahamadou Issoufou has been announced as the keynote speaker in this year’s Rhodes Forum which will take place in New York. The Rhodes Forum is regarded as the flagship global affairs conference. This year’s Forum which is the 17th will focus on global order and security. According to the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC), organizers of the Forum, President Issoufou will share an African perspective on issues related to global order, security and economic development with the Rhodes Forum’s audience of more than 300 senior policymakers, diplomats, academics and businesspeople from around the world. He will also participate in the Forum’s Focus on Africa panel to discuss how the continent can become a driver of global development.
Speaking on what informed the choice of President Issoufou, the CEO of Dialogue Civilizations Research Institute (DOC), Jean-Christophe Bas said that with President Issoufou, the DOC is proud to welcome to Rhodes a major leader of the African continent, and one who was instrumental in the launch of the African Free Trade Zone last July in Niamey. He added that the shape of the future global order, security and development are central themes of this year’s Rhodes Forum, which continues our established focus on Africa and African development.
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It is in this context, says Jean-Christophe Bas, and also the fact that Niger is set to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January 2020, that President Issoufou’s intervention at the 17th Rhodes Forum will be timely and authoritative. “I am sure that the Forum’s high-level and influential audience will all benefit from his insights, and I expect this year’s Rhodes Forum to make a substantive contribution to current debates around Africa’s future as a pillar of the global order and driver of economic growth” he argued.
Other African leaders that have graced the Rhodes Forum in the past as keynote speakers are former President Goodluck Jonathan, Prime Minister of Guinea Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and former Malian President Dioncounda Traoré.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.