President Danny Faure received Dr Elsie Kanza, Head of Africa at the World Economic Forum, at State House this morning for a courtesy call. Dr Kanza’s visit is a result of President Faure’s upcoming participation in the World Economic Forum on Africa meeting in Cape Town later this year.

The World Economic Forum strives to bring together leaders from across Africa and around the world to discuss issues that are of regional importance. It aims to solve complex issues in the global public interest through public-private cooperation, engaging the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. WEF is well-known for its annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, Switzerland.

The meeting was an opportunity for Dr Kanza to share the work of the World Economic Forum (WEF) with the President, and discuss how best WEF can support Seychelles with its national and regional priorities, particularly related to the development of the blue economy, economic diversification, and inclusive growth. She also shared details on the upcoming regional summit.

President Faure thanked Dr Kanza and her team for the visit to Seychelles, and said he is looking forward to the WEF regional summit in Cape Town. He expressed his commitment to continue being a spokesperson for the importance of ocean conservation and sustainable development, as Champion for the Blue Economy for Africa. The President also said that the theme of the upcoming WEF meeting, ‘Shaping Inclusive Growth and Shared Futures in the Fourth Industrial Revolution’, is particularly relevant for the continent and links nicely to the SADC agenda. President Faure and Dr Kanza agreed that this was the start of a fruitful collaboration between Seychelles and the WEF.

Also present for the meeting this morning was Mr George Edoho, Community Lead for Regional and Government Engagement in Africa at the World Economic Forum.