Sweden’s Foreign Policy Statement for 2021

Mr Speaker, I want to begin this year’s Statement of Foreign Policy by saying something that is obvious to us all. Politics matters. This year marks 100 years since women were first able to exercise their right to vote in a parliamentary election. This was the milestone that made Sweden a democracy. Democracy is something […]

African Free Trade Area key to mitigate COVID-19 effects

By Chido Pamela Mafongoya The long-awaited trading within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) finally began on 1 January 2021, marking a very important milestone for African trade. The AfCFTA creates a single continental market for goods and services, with the aim of increasing intra-African trade by reducing tariffs by approximately 90 percent and […]

A guide to picking Liberia’s next president

By Ansu O. Dualu The role of a president is tenfold. It requires you to be is a legal scholar, a philosopher, a social and developmental economist, a diplomat, an environmentalist; in essence, you must be a well-read, well-rounded individual who is tested and comfortable with making executive decisions. The president fears nothing but the […]

A few thoughts for Africans in 2021

By NJ Ayuk In 2021 most opportunities in the energy sector and in business in general will go to those who show up and negotiate better deals and get involved in making African resources work for us. Forget handouts, foreign aid and government handouts. As I wrote in the second edition of Billions at Play: The Future […]

Online trading becoming more attractive in Africa

By Jay Mawji While the International Monetary Fund acknowledges the damaging recession effects of Covid-19 in Africa, the economic outlook for the continent remains optimistic as the introduction of technologies brings with it accessibility and exposure to economic and personal finance possibilities. The financial knowledge and capabilities in Africa are often misunderstood by many outside […]

Foreign investment vital to Africa’s economic growth

By NJ Ayuk Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, not all of the economic news in Africa has been negative. We continue to see promising developments. Look at Uganda’s oil and gas industry. Following multiple petroleum discoveries in Uganda’s Albertine Graben, foreign investments there have reached nearly $20 billion. The resulting projects include a refinery being built […]

Banding together is only way Africa will beat COVID-19

By Dr. John Nkengasong and African Union Commissioner Amira Elfadil Mohammed Elfadil) Everyone knows by now that due to a combination of leadership, environment, social ecology, demographics and as yet unknown biological and other factors, Africa has been spared the worst of the havoc that COVID-19 has wreaked on other parts of the globe and […]

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Today, 17 October 2020 – On the International day for the eradication of poverty the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) expresses solidarity with hundreds of millions of people suffering under the COVID-19 pandemic. It is estimated that 500 million more people will further slide into poverty due to the economic lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of […]

A shaky Liberia is a sign of renewed hope

By Alexander Redd God brings radical change to a nation of people when He allows them to experience rocky and painful situations. When God declared through Prophet Haggai that He would involve Himself in a graphic and visible way to shake things up by disrupting the normalcy of life, the Israelites were on the cusp […]

Swedish PM speaks at global meeting on women

Gender equality is a concern for us all: women, men, girls and boys. Not only is it a moral or legal obligation to promote equality and rights for women and girls, it is also a question of common sense – and smart economics. No society will fully prosper if half of its population is denied […]