6th Annual International Conference Africa Day

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia

International Center for Promotion of Enterprises

Club of Former Slovenian Ambassadors

Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia

International African Forum

present the 6^th annual international conference

AFRICA DAY

The sixth annual international conference Africa day was held on the 18^th and 19^th of May 2017, at the Brdo Congress Centre near Kranj.

This year, in the framework of the conference, three organized panel sessions dealt with the issues of 1) mobility, youth and job creation, 2) economic and cultural networking in Africa and 3) Africa-EU common challenges and shared vision.

The first panel has therefore focused on discussing opportunities to enrich cooperation between Africa and the EU, by mobilising and empowering young people in spheres of politics, economy and science. Youth mobility, promotion and growth is an important current topic for Africa, as well as the EU. With 200 million young people, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. And although the large number of young people represents an opportunity for change and development, with a 60% youth unemployment rate on the continent, the conditions of utilizing their full potentials are, in a large part, left unfulfilled. Structural issues, as well as poor access to education and the labour force still need to be addressed and improved. The panel discussion discussed these issues and tried to find common solutions and opportunities that could benefit both Africa and the EU.

The focus of the second panel was the economic and cultural networking in Africa as an extension of last year’s panel on regional integration. Networking on the fragmented African continent is paramount for closer economic and cultural cooperation and effective policies. The current dire status of economic cooperation could have been caused by relatively small size of African economies, lack of their complementarity, seeming self-sufficiency, modest primary exports, and imports of expensive end products and industrial goods like crude oil and medicines. In addition to that the process of assimilation is generating further tensions between national communities. This panel concentrated on the above mentioned causes of fragmentation and division on the African continent while also attempted to come up with adequate solutions to the pressing issues.

Compared to the last year's conference, where the focus was on the development and integration of African cities and regions, economic cooperation, and African-Slovenian bilateral relations, this year the discussion shifted to broader subjects. Since many African countries are transforming at an unprecedented rate, and considering 7 of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies are from Africa, it is understandable that Slovenia, and the EU, begin to examine future (investment) opportunities for economic cooperation with African countries from a new perspective.

Africa day conference was accompanied by a cultural programme from the 17^th to the 19^th of May, the closing ceremony being a musical concert with performers from the Slovenian African diaspora.

Schedule

Day 1 Report

Day 2 Report