Dubai: The second Africa Global Business Forum (AGBF) is slated for October 1-2 at the Atlantis The Palm, the organiser, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said on Monday.
The AGBF aims to highlight the advantages for African entrepreneurs to access global markets in Dubai, while providing global investors with a centre for their African operations, said officials.
Guests will include the Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and Ugandan Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi as leading speakers.
Emirati speakers will be led by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group; Reem Ebrahim Al Hashemi, UAE Minister of State and managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020; Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy; and Mohammad I. Al Shaibani, executive director and CEO of the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD).
The forum will serve as a platform for discussion between the emirates and African nations, through interactive networking and dialogue sessions. It will also explore the future of trade and investment linkages between African markets and the rest of the world, including plans for the building of a large African free-trade zone that will be discussed with the heads of the African Union (AU) and economic blocs, said the chamber.
According to Hamad Bu Amim, president and CEO of Dubai Chamber, the number of African companies holding Dubai Chamber membership has increased from 2,914 in 2008 to 7,906 until mid-2014, registering a growth of 171 per cent.
