Eminent Speakers Series

Abstract: The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has launched in December 2008 a new publication in which eminent personalities share their ideas on development, their understanding of global development issues and their vision of Africa. The publication is based on presentations made by former heads of state, as well as global economic and development experts in Tunis, Tunisia, between 2006 and 2007 within the framework of the Bank Group’s Eminent Speakers Program designed not only for Bank staff, but also for people interested in development issues - development partners, members of the diplomatic corps, researchers and the academia. The Eminent Speakers Series has opened a new chapter in the Bank’s endeavor to become a knowledge center, with the capacity to propose solutions to Africa’s problems, based, inter alia, on documented experiences of those who know the continent and believe that its development is possible and achievable sooner rather than later. The program is a part of a newly designed framework to enhance the Bank’s visibility as a knowledge institution. It is designed as a platform on which African leaders and world renowned persons – Africans and non-Africans – can share their views on daunting development challenges facing the continent. While providing opportunities for Bank staff to interact with distinguished thought leaders and exchange ideas on how the continent’s development agenda can be achieved in the near term, eminent personalities can set out, through the program, their visions for posterity; visions that may inspire current and future African leaders. The first under the Eminent Speakers Program, the publication was launched in Tunis on December 4, 2008 by Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank Group, and festus Mogae, former President of Botswana, who was giving a conference on "Extractive Industries and Africa’s Development: Lessons from Botswana". The Eminent Speakers Series 2006-2007 includes the following papers: – "HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Africa: My Fears and my Hopes" by Kenneth Kaunda, former President of Zambia – "Reinventing Growth: Technological Innovation and Economic Revival in Africa" by Calestous Juma, Director of the Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard University – "Improving Access for African Rural Areas to Water and Sanitation" by Michel Camdessus, former IMF Managing Director – "Meeting Global Challenges: International Cooperation in the National Interest", by Kingsley Amoako, the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) former Executive Secretary – "Governance and Investment in Africa: Experience after Forty Years" by Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzania’s former President – "Post-Conflict Recovery: How Should AfDB Strategies be Distinctive" by Paul Collier, Professor at Oxford University – "Improving Africa’s Perspective in a Globalized World: The Role of Regional Integration" by Abdou Diouf, Senegal’s former president