President Akufo-Addo, says the African continent will achieve the dignity and respect she deserves in the coming decades ahead and the continent will do so on its own terms and not by the dictates of other people.

The President made the assertion when he addressed the maiden edition of the Essence Global Economic Forum at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel today the 31st of December 2019. According to President Akufo-Addo, the African continent “has all the ingredients to make Africa the happy and prosperous continent that it should be.”

“We will achieve the dignity and respect we deserve and we will do so on our own terms. Today, no one snares at the Chinese, tomorrow nobody will snare at Africans and black people,” President Akufo-Addo stated.

The President in making his case as to why he believes Africa will pull through its current state of challenges indicated that the continent has a young and dynamic population that is not afraid of hard work.

“Indeed, by 2035, Africa’s working population will be a quarter of the world’s population and a third of the world’s youth population that is between the ages of 15 to 24 will be in Africa,” the President stated.

“To this end, the peoples of Africa are determined to use our resources to bring prosperity to our people.

“Our young people will believe that there is a bright future in their own countries and the old will relax in the sunset of their lives. The realization of the dream of a continent of confident, educated and skilled people is within our grasp. That continent would be an ‘Africa Beyond Aid,'” President Akufo Addo stressed.

The Essence Global Black Economic Forum has as its mission, to create an actionable agenda to inform the collective commitment to economic development and inclusion, generational wealth-building and ownership, and creating sustained cultural and economic opportunities at scale across the African Diaspora, on the African continent and within the global community. President Akufo Addo urged all the participants who are mainly African Americans, who are in Ghana as part of the ‘Year of Return Initiative’, to look to Africa through trade and investments in order to support the transformational agenda of the continent.

“It should be obvious to all black people in the world by now that their dignity and standing are intricately bound up with the dignity and standing of Africa. That iconic Jamaican musician, Peter Tosh, put it quite succinctly. He said and I quote, a quote I will never be able to seize to repeat, “Don’t care where you come from, as long as you are a black man, you are an African.” We need each and every one of us gathered here to join hands in delivering progress and prosperity to our continent,” President Akufo Addo stated.

“The vision is of a black world on both sides of the Atlantic which leverages hard work, enterprise, creativity and innovation to engage in mutually beneficial trade and investment cooperation that will guarantee the prosperity of black people the world over,” President Akufo-Addo opined.

Global icons and personalities such as actor Boris Kodjoe, Abrima Erwiah, CO-Founder CEO of Studio 189, Nicole Amaeteifio, TV /Film Producer and Director, Sir David Adjaye, Lead Architect, Principal of Adjaye Associates, Richelieu Dennis, Founder and Chairman of Essence Ventures and Bernie Mensah, Global Head, Emerging Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, among others participated in the forum.