The President of Niger, His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou, took part in the 17th Rhodes Forum on 11 and 12 October 2019, organised by the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, to discuss several national and regional issues and offer Africa’s vision on major international issues.
During the special session on 11 October, President Issoufou Mahamadou spoke with Stefan Grobe of Euronews in front of participants from more than 55 countries, presenting his vision for Africa and Niger. He also advocated for multilateralism, drew attention to the security situation in the Sahel region and Lake Chad Basin, the situation in Libya and support of the international community to combat terrorism in West Africa, and warned against the problems posed by climate change and illegal migration. Other topics included the role that Niger will play as a non-permanent member of the Security Council from January 2020, tackling the market for fake medicines in Africa, reforms in global political and economic governance and win-win cooperation between countries.
On 12 October, President Issoufou Mahamadou took the floor as a Special Guest to conclude the debates of a panel dedicated to partnership between Africa and the rest of the world, led by Hannane Ferdjani of Africanews. Participants included the Founder of Transparency International and Africa Progress Panel Co-Chair Peter Eigen; Founder and President of the Brazzaville Foundation Jean-Yves Ollivier; former Prime Minister of Guinea Kabiné Komara; Director of Education Projects of ABO Capital Jaimie Graça; and South African industrialist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Ivor Ichikovitz.
In his speech, President Issoufou raised all the issues related to this theme and clarified his vision for the development of Africa. The President emphasised the challenges and prospects inherent in the development of the African continent, recalling the situation of Africa in various fields and underlining the efforts led by its leaders through among others Agenda 2063 and its various Plans and Projects, including ZLECAf.
President Issoufou again thanked the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute and in particular its Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr Vladimir Yakunin, and CEO and Head of the Executive Board Jean-Christophe Bas, “for having provided him, as a Special Guest, at this 17th Rhodes Forum, a privileged place of reflection and analysis to help in the decision-making of political and economic world leaders.”
The DOC today published a video interview with President Issoufou covering topics including global governance, security and international cooperation in the Sahel, major African development projects and the challenges of climate change.
Read the president’s speech from the second day of the Forum here
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