Professor Mthuli Ncube, Vice President and Chief Economist
at the African Development Bank (AfDB),

will be speaking on

What Africa will be like in the next 50 years: Opportunities and Threats

as part of the WBS Distinguished Lecture Series

PRESENTATION DETAILS:

Date: Thursday, 16 August 2012
Time: 17h30 for 18h00
Venue: Donald Gordon Auditorium at Wits Business School
Address: 2 St David's Place, Parktown



Based on research conducted by the Bank, it concluded that there are a number of trends — some physical, some man-made — that cumulatively define the options available to Africa over the next half-century. Global production and trade, technological change, population growth, HIV/AIDS and climate change are examples of gradual processes which over a span of five decades are likely to cumulate to large consequences. By 2060, these gradual exogenous changes will have transformed the opportunities and challenges facing Africa.

How individual economies in Africa respond to these challenges will depend on the choices they
make, individually and collectively.

So, what should they be doing?: Countries in the region need to respond by investing in their cities, managing migration, transforming agriculture, managing their natural resources better, and making concerted efforts to break in at the bottom of the global market in
goods and services.

Collective action — by Africans, themselves, in the form of deeper regional integration, and by the international community in the form of improved performance on trade and aid — must support the efforts of individual counties.

The uncertainties surrounding this vision of Africa in 2060 are of course enormous, but one thing
seems clear: change required calls for policy response.

However there is a real warning that if the pace of policy and institutional change in Africa over the next 50 years mirrors that of the past 50, the continent is likely to be overwhelmed by the challenges it faces, while seeing opportunities slip through its fingers. But if we are clear sighted and decisive, Africa in 2060 holds out the promise of significant improvements in the lives and livelihood of millions of Africans.

All media inquires to Rosemary Viljoen – Email: rosemary@stonedpebble.co.za Tel: +27 (0)82 861 9232

African Development Bank:

Rosemary Viljoen
Stoned Pebble Consulting
+27 (0)82 861 9232
rosemary@stonedpebble.co.za

Wits Business School:

Rutendo Nxumalo
Marketing & Communications Department
Wits Business School
University of the Witwatersrand
+27 11 717 3627
+27 865 213 414
rutendo.nxumalo@wits.ac.za