President Bio at Harvard University Calls for Jobs, Skills and Industrial Growth in Africa
Kanja Sesay President Julius Maada Bio has called on African countries to assess international partnerships by their ability to build local skills, create jobs, strengthen domestic businesses and develop industries across the continent.
President Bio made the call during a Harvard Kennedy School engagement on “Africa and the Shifting Geopolitical Landscape,” where he discussed leadership, democratic resilience and strategic choices facing Sierra Leone and Africa.
The event was held at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum and hosted by Dr Zoe Marks, Oppenheimer Faculty Director of Harvard University’s Centre for African Studies in the United States of America.
In outlining his approach to international cooperation, President Bio said African countries should ask four key questions when considering partnerships or projects with international actors: whether they build skills, create jobs and strengthen local businesses, support industrial development, and enhance countries’ capacity to make independent decisions.
He said the framework places skills development, employment, local enterprise and industrialisation at the centre of how African countries should evaluate external cooperation. The President also stressed the importance of maintaining the capacity to make strategic decisions while engaging international partners.
The remarks come as African countries navigate changing global relationships involving trade, investment, security and diplomacy. President Bio has previously called for greater value addition, local processing and investment in domestic productive capacity as part of Africa’s economic transformation.
At the Harvard engagement, his emphasis on jobs and local businesses highlighted the need for international projects to generate tangible economic opportunities within African countries, while his focus on industrial development pointed to the importance of building stronger domestic production capacity.
The Harvard Kennedy School said the September 29 event focused on the leadership, democratic resilience and strategic choices facing Sierra Leone and the African continent amid a shifting geopolitical landscape.