Reform-minded Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is better defined by the modern ideas that he is pushing rather than his young age of forty-two, and it is to his credit that he is more forward-looking today than many of his colleagues in the continent.
At the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, Abiy, who has both Christian and Muslim parents, presents image of a leader impatient to change the fortunes of his heavily-populated country ravaged by years of war and famine but which today has become the focus of global attention.
When a BusinessDay reporter sought to speak to him as he walked away from the opening of the World Economic Forum in Davos, his two minders attempted to fend off the approach of the reporter until Abiy said, pointedly, “He is from Nigeria and I want to listen to him.”
During his short time in power, Abiy has released political prisoners, opened the space for his people to canvas their ideas, appointed a female president and mounted a breath-taking reform of Ethiopia’s economy by opening it up for badly-needed FDI and he promises more to come.
Asked what his motivation is for his revolutionary ideas, Abiy told BusinessDay, “It is the love for my people and the love for Africa.”
Not afraid to try new things or take his country via an uncharted path, the quiet-speaking Ethiopian leader says further, “We are changing our country and I believe we can make life better for the people.”
The prime minister’s words find resonance at the annual gathering of the elite from business and politics which opened yesterday in the Swiss alpine city of Davos where there was a strident call for a more rapid pace of economic development in the world that is both fair and inclusive.
Ueli Maurer, the Swiss leader, in his opening remarks canvassed freedom and liberty and the opening up of economies around the world to offer people opportunities they badly need as the failing of globalisation forces people to seek succour in nationalism and anti-immigration.
Forum founder Klaus Schwab, who conceded that globalisation has not fully delivered, said the world needs to be more collaborative in contrast to the tendency today for leaders to seek to go it alone.
There was an applause from the business and political leaders gathered when a refugee from Kenya, Mohammed Hassan, who is originally from Somalia spoke of his life in the refugee camp in Kenya in the last 20 years and how he will have to return to the camp after his visit to Davos.
“The challenge today,” he said, “is how to move from keeping people in the refugee camps to giving them the skill they need in life and moving them out into the world with hope to change their lives and the world.”
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who is chairing the dialogue, said he had been inspired by the contributions of the collection of young leaders that had spoken and said world leaders now must use innovation and technology to challenge the status quo to bring about development that does not just deliver economic progress but economic development that is both fair and inclusive.
The meetings this year are focussing on how to make globalisation work better for a world increasingly divided by nationalism and anti-immigration fervour sweeping across the globe.
Many world leaders, from US President Donald Trump to Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron who lit up last year’s gathering with his blistering criticism of nationalism, are staying away this year, but the 2019 annual meetings of the World Economic Forum promise to be just as engaging.
The world is at a crossroads, say the organisers of the meetings, adding, “We can continue the present trajectory of polarising views, increased conflicts and numerous unresolved problems. At best this path will result in permanent global crisis management. At worst, it will deteriorate into chaos, with innumerable unintended consequences. There is another option – shaping a global architecture in the age of the fourth industrial revolution. Together, we can and we must draw on the spirit of Davos to build the future, in a constructive, collaborative way.”
According to Schwab, the gathering’s founder, “Unfortunately, the rise of populism has been fuelled by a public discourse that does not sufficiently address, and more often confounds the substantive differences and implications of two related concepts, globalisation and globalism, even if the two terms refer to the same phenomenon of global connectivity and global cooperation.”
As was the case last year, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is missing at the gathering.
Frank Aigbogun, Davos
