"The first thing that Africa should do is to negotiate as Africa. We have to be thinking in continental terms as Africa. The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement is going towards that Confederation of African States. That is what we should be aspiring to. Negotiating in silos has been very bad for the African continent. When we talk about connectivity on the African continent, these are things that are actually enshrined in Agenda 2063. The African one was the African Union document. It is about continental integration. How do you integrate the continent? You integrate the continent by integrating infrastructure, first of all, at a very practical level," Matambo stresses.
Moving to a more balanced global order
"Since its inception in 2015, the Eastern Economic Forum has consistently drawn visionary leaders from around the world. This is fitting as Northeast Asia, which includes the Russian Far East, is a region of vibrant economic dynamism and immense potential. Indeed, it contributes about a fifth of the world's GDP. Russia is not just a strategic and economic reality that commands attention. Indeed, it's a cultural, intellectual, and scientific force. Russia's prominence on the global stage transcends the confines of commerce and geopolitics, reaching deep into the very fabric of human history and thought," Ibrahim says.
"Well, the financial and political authorities of the United States have been deploying nonprofessional methods and, in a way, moving us toward that decision. I think that they have already understood their mistake but feel that it would be too late for them to change course. It seems that they believe that recognizing their mistake would be somehow inappropriate for them, let alone changing the way they act. After all, they can see that the tools they use are ineffective. We simply switch to our national currencies. But it is too late for them to back out," Putin notes.