The Forum on Africa in Taormina (Italy) has began with a lot of attention and participations by attendants from Africa, Europe and other continents.
The whole venue, which is this year the third edition, has started at 3 pm.
The first half of the afternoon has been introduced by Giovanni Puglisi, president of Banco id Sicilia foundation, followed by Ivanhoe Lo Bello, president of Confindustria Sicilia.
They both stressed the importance of Africa for Sicily and Europe. The fact that the meeting is at its third edition, they said, means that the interest is growing.
The forum started with the theme “geopolitical scenario and the future of Africa“. Pierre Ewenczyk, senior economist in Paris, France, for the IM, started with his speech. He said: “Africa is an innocent victim of the crisis”.
The governor of Central Bank of Zambia, Caleb Fundanga, Dominick Salvatore (advisor of South African Reserve Bank) and economist Jean-Paul Fitoussi followed. Fitoussi said: “This crisis has started right at the heart of the economic system in the USA but the damages are much more for other countries than for the US”.
Other attendants in the second part of the first day of the forum were: Nobel laureate for economics, James Heckman, founder of One Laptop per Child, Nicholas Negroponte, head of African Affairs of the League of Arab States, Zeid Al Sabban, founder of Robert F. Kennedy center for human rights, Kerry Kennedy, professor of demography in La Sorbonne university, Gérard-François Dumont, coordinator of Nepad, Bankole Adeoye.
During the debate a member of the public from China responded to Kerry Kennedy who questioned the human rights issue in China and particularly in Tibet saying that the Dalai Lama is a “master of slave owners”.
The whole forum is organised by Foundation Banco di Sicilia and The European House Ambrosetti.
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