Courtesy: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar.
Doha, March 27, GNA -The Qatar-Africa Business Forum, has been held on the sidelines of the 20th Doha Forum.
The panellists who spoke on the topic “Qatar-Africa Business Forum: Post Pandemic Africa”, included Mr Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, Governor of the Edo State of Nigeria; Mr Joe Eshun, Chief Executive Officer of Deloitte East Africa; and Mr Charles Murito, Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for Google, Sub-Saharan Africa.
They discussed the most important sectors for growth in Africa post-pandemic.
Mr Obaseki in his contributions underscored the devastating impact the pandemic had on livelihoods in Africa.
“If you ask me to look at the next two years, the Ukrainian war for me has created a real alarm for food systems.
“With the increase in food prices, particularly wheat, staples, and grains and the rise in energy prices; we as a government now realise that we must now begin to put in place a lot of resources into agriculture, and large-scale projects.”
Mr Eshun said: “Africa is very resilient and a lot of you remember two and a half years ago the conversation was, COVID-19 is going to decimate Africa. I don’t think it did happen”.
“So, today’s conversation is very interesting, it’s looking at the recovery after COVID-19. What is the next two to three years going to look like? And we have to reflect on that in the midst of the current economic challenges and the political situation in Ukraine.”
Mr Murito, who expressed his optimism in Africa’s future, said: “Africa is going to be serving the world when it comes to the young people who are going to be needed to fill jobs in the world.”
GNA