Regional Agenda World Economic Forum on Africa

The 2014 World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria, focused on transforming high economic growth into inclusive prosperity. Key discussions centered on leveraging a youthful demographic, improving healthcare and education, and closing infrastructure gaps through innovative financing and regional integration. The event highlighted the role of local entrepreneurship, the need for vocational training to combat youth unemployment, and the importance of diversifying investment beyond official aid toward domestic capital and foreign direct investment.

• Africa's economic growth is threatened by high youth unemployment and a skills mismatch, with 200 million people aged 15 to 24 and an additional 112 million workers expected to enter the labor force by 2020.
• Infrastructure remains a primary constraint to prosperity and regional integration; however, China has pledged support for a continental network of high-speed railways, expressways, and aviation networks.
• Investment patterns in Africa are shifting from a reliance on official development assistance toward foreign direct investment and remittances, with a growing potential to leverage domestic pension funds, which were valued at $260 billion in 2010.
• Healthcare improvements, specifically vaccination programs, have significantly boosted productivity; a study estimates a 24% gain in country productivity between 2000 and 2012 attributable to health improvements.
• Intra-African trade is low at 10% to 12%, compared to 70% in the European Union, partly due to high transportation costs which typically account for 40% of a product's price.
• The Grow Africa Investment Forum partners doubled their commitments for agriculture and food security to $7.2 billion, with $970 million already invested, creating 33,000 jobs and assisting 2.6 million smallholder farmers.
• Energy access is a critical barrier to growth, with nearly 600 million people lacking electricity despite the continent's rich energy resources.

APA

World Economic Forum (2014). Regional Agenda World Economic Forum on Africa. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AF14/WEF_AF14_Report.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Regional Agenda World Economic Forum on Africa. 2014. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AF14/WEF_AF14_Report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Regional Agenda World Economic Forum on Africa |date=2014 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AF14/WEF_AF14_Report.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2014regional, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Regional Agenda World Economic Forum on Africa}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2014}, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/AF14/WEF_AF14_Report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }