The Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC) is pleased to welcome President of Niger H.E. Mahamadou Issoufou as a keynote speaker of this year’s Rhodes Forum, the DOC’s flagship global affairs conference.
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 business people 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.
Jean-Christophe Bas, CEO of the DOC, said: “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. 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.
“In this context, and with Niger set to join the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member in January 2020, 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.”
A long-time opposition leader, Mahamadou Issoufou was elected during Niger’s democratic transition in 2011, in a vote that was declared free and fair by the international community. He has already declared that he will step down at the end of his current term in office in 2021, further strengthening democratic civilian rule in Niger.
President Issoufou currently chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and has played a major role in establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area – the world’s largest continental free trade area, with representing 1.2 billion people – which was launched in its operational phase in the Nigerien capital Niamey in July.
Mahamadou Issoufou is also known for his active role in combatting Islamist terrorism, in particular through the G5 Sahel initiative. Under his leadership, Niger remains one of the few stable countries in a volatile region – it shares borders with Libya to the north and Mali to the west, and also faces the fundamentalist insurgency led by Boko Haram on its southern border with Nigeria.
Previous keynote speakers at Rhodes Forum Africa focus sessions include Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Prime Minister of Guinea Ibrahima Kassory Fofana and former Malian President Dioncounda Traoré.
The 17th edition of the Rhodes Forum – titled “Global (dis)order: Towards dialogue-based worldviews” – takes place on the Greek island of Rhodes on 11-12 October 2019. For more information, please visit www.rhodesforum.org and follow the DOC on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. For all media enquiries and accreditation, please contact media@doc-research.org. The Rhodes Forum thanks its sponsors and partners:
About the DOC The Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute is an independent non-partisan think tank based in Berlin. The DOC’s mission is to be an independent platform for dialogue that brings together perspectives from the developed and developing worlds in a non-confrontational and constructive spirit. The goals of the DOC are to forge shared worldviews through dialogue and to contribute to a fair, sustainable, and peaceful world. In view of these goals, the DOC believes that globalization should have humanity, culture, and civilization at its heart.
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