Premier to Speak at Forum in Midst of Conflict

Amid the tense situation in the northern part of the country, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) is booked to speak before an international audience next week at the third edition of Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum. The theme of his five-minute speech will be ''Saving Lives & Livelihoods in Africa.''

In contrast to the previous two years, the 2020 Forum will be held virtually over a period of four days. Five hundred world leaders, business executives, technology innovators, government officials, academics and experts from 45 countries are expected to attend. Along with Prime Minister Abiy, the programme will feature Tedros Adhanom (PhD), the director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Christine Lagarde, president of European Central Bank, and Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar, founder and chairperson of Emaar Properties, as speakers.

Prime Minister Abiy's speech, which is scheduled to be held on November 16, 2020, will be followed by a panel discussion focused on the ideas behind "Saving Lives & Livelihoods in Africa." The continent has been grappling with a health crisis and a sharp economic contraction as a result of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Aliko Dangote, president and chief executive officer of Dangote Industries Limited; Strive Masiyiwa, founder and executive chairman of Econet; and Graca Machel, the founder of Graça Machel Trust and the former Minister of Education & Culture of Mozambique, will be the panelists. They will discuss topics related to the development and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments around the continent, as well as new drivers of growth and prosperity.

Founded by Michael Bloomberg in 2018, the inaugural edition of the Forum was held in Singapore, while the second one was hosted in Beijing. The forums deliberated on a range of topics, including global economic management, trade and investment, technology, urbanisation, capital markets, climate change and inclusion. The China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Mandela Institute for Development Studies are the co-chairs for the third edition of the global event.

Prime Minister Abiy is taking the podium on the heels of his administration launching a military operation in Tigray Regional State. The tensions that have been growing over the past two years between forces in Tigray Regional State and the federal government boiled over into a serious conflict two weeks ago, causing deaths in the hundreds and the flooding of refugees into Sudan.

International financial organisations have already started warning that the situation could negatively affect the economy of the country, which has been rolling out economic reform plans over the past two and a half years including the privatisation of large public enterprises and a broader market liberalisation.

Kevin Dalrymple, a vice president and sovereign analyst at credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service, stated that the situation might exacerbate the bad economic situation of the country.