The Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Paul Apraku Twum Barimah, has been invited to moderate a panel discussion at the 2023 edition of the Africa Development Conference at the Harvard University in the United States of America.
The event which is scheduled for April 15th and 16th, 2023, will be under the theme “Reimagining Africa’s Growth on Our Terms. The Ghanaian lawmaker is scheduled to moderate discussions on “Transitioning into a Green Economy, Opportunities and Challenges at the conference.
Paul Twum Barimah adds to some notable Ghanaian political leaders like Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, John Agyekum Kufuor, John Dramani Mahama, among others who have been invited to participate in this conference in past years.
The Africa Development Conference is a student-led event that convenes academia, students, and practitioners to highlight and explore critical issues related to the African continent’s development. This year’s ADC will take place between the 15th – 16th of April, 2023, at the Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Conference will have panels, fireside chats, and keynote speeches on topics including how Africa can thrive in international trade, challenges and opportunities in transitioning to a green economy, the role of creative arts in development, the Africa we want, and other engaging topics.
Paul Twum Barimah is a member of the Bui Dam Authority Ghana Publishing Corporation, member of the parliamentary Committee on, Energy and Foreign Affairs and also serves on Parliament Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee. President Akufo Addo in 2019 spoke at Harvard Africa Development Conference.
In his key note address, President Akufo Addo said Africa’s huge population of young people will either be a major advantage or a heavy burden, depending on whether African governments can come up with a “strategy to reap the demographic dividend
He said with over 40 percent of its working population between the ages of 15 and 24, Africa is the youngest continent in the world.
He said Africa’s economy is “on the edge of a breakthrough,” but only if there are “systematic investments” in human capital similar to those made in Asian countries that have become economic success stories such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Among other steps to “invest in empowerment education and employment” of young people, Akufo-Addo said lawmakers in Ghana are working on legislation to make kindergarten through high school education compulsory. In order to help young women, Ghana is also working toward achieving gender parity in university enrolment, he said.
