-Pres. Boakai urges delegates at Korea, Africa Summit
By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson I
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has called on his fellow African leaders to exert all efforts and take deliberate actions that will positively change the lives of their people.
Speaking at the first Korea, Africa summit, held under the theme “The Future We Make Together; Shared Growth, Sustainability, and Solidarity” the Liberian leader urged his fellow leaders to leverage their potential to achieve common goals and foster a better future for their people, a transformed, equitable and sustainable future.
“We must determine it by deliberately taking actions that will leverage our potential to achieve common goals and foster a better future for our people, a transformed, equitable and sustainable future”.
According to the Liberian leader, such can be achieved in firm partnership with the proud people of Korea who have taught them the importance of human capital, their greatest resource in transforming the future of their respective nations.
He wants the summit to further foster SouthSouth cooperation to address mutual developmental issues in the global south adding that no nation can address the myriad of complex global challenges alone.
He stated that it is by standing together in solidarity that African leaders can bring their collective efforts to tackle climate change, disease, hunger, poverty, and the many problems that plague them collectively.
Furthermore, President Boakai indicated that while globalization and technological advancement have ushered the twenty-first century with remarkable feats of human development, such impact on the world populations, especially in Africa, has been unequal.
“This is why “shared growth” as part of the theme of this summit should express our collective desire that growth must come with development, prosperity must be inclusive to benefit all people, and that dividends of development should not be the exclusive preserve for a privileged few”, he stated.
The Liberian Leader emphasized that shared growth and a shared future must also be pursued in tandem with Agenda 2063, the pan-African effort to promote collective prosperity, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the World Sustainable Development Goals.
He urged his colleagues that they must seek an outcome from the summit that allows the application of what they have collectively been endowed with to increase prosperity and improve the livelihoods of their people.
Despite urging his colleagues to increase prosperity and improve the livelihoods of their people, president Boakai urged them to equally recognize that sustainability should undergird the drive for development.
Further adding that the exploitation of the collective natural wealth must always be considered in maintaining a sustainable earth for future generations.
“This means achieving a sustainable future by accepting options or alternatives that do not leave the earth depleted but also safeguard the environment”, he noted.
President Boakai stressed that as one of the custodians of the equatorial rainforest, Liberia intends to promote a sustainable future by leveraging such natural assets to contribute to the fight against climate change.
He asserted that leaders at the conference represent about a fifth of the world’s population, and as a community, they have a critical mass in solidarity that should enable them to confront and address the challenges facing the global village.
In furtherance, he stated that the South-south cooperation, nations gathered at the summit have in many respects shared experiences and a common objective to improve the social and economic conditions of their populations.
He acknowledged that the Republic of Korea has been a true friend and partner to Liberia, a Nation anyone can learn from, and has so much to offer Africa in the continent’s quest for a transformative future.
Meanwhile, the historic summit first of its kind is expected to potentially impact about 20% of the world’s population.
