Statement of the United Nations Secretary-General for Africa Industrialization Day 2024; November 20th.
On Africa Industrialization Day, we celebrate the inspiring progress and economic growth the continent has achieved over the decades.
From the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to the Continent’s young, innovative and entrepreneurial population, to Africa’s growing leadership in renewable energy, Africa is fast becoming an integrated global economic force across diverse sectors.
This year’s theme emphasizes the enormous potential of emerging technologies — especially artificial intelligence — to power African growth in green manufacturing.
Artificial intelligence can sharpen the continent’s competitive edge in green manufacturing — boosting productivity, job-creation and African prosperity — while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In September, leaders adopted the Global Digital Compact to enhance global cooperation and capacity-building in groundbreaking technologies like artificial intelligence. The Compact includes the first truly universal agreement on the international governance of artificial intelligence to give every country a seat at the AI table. It also highlights how digital public infrastructure — like digital payment systems — can boost economic activity and regional integration.
I urge Africa to seize this opportunity to harness the transformative potential of technology and drive inclusive and environmentally conscious development and economic growth. The United Nations proudly stands with all Africans in this essential effort.
António Guterres’ United Nations Secretary-General.
EVENTS: On November 20th; The observance of the Africa Industrialization Day 2024 is intended to mobilize the commitment of the international community to the industrialization of Africa.
This year, Africa Industrialization Week is set to take place in Kampala, Uganda, from the 25th to the 29th of November 2024, under the theme “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Green Industrialization to Accelerate Africa's Structural Transformation”.
Consequently, the 3rd Edition of the African Women in Processing Summit (3rd AWIP) will be held on the margins of the Africa Industrialization Week. This summit will focus on empowering women entrepreneurs in Africa's processing industries.
The overall objective emphasizes building synergies between policy, investments, innovation, and capacity building across sectors to effectively leverage AI and green solutions for inclusive and sustainable industrial development in Africa, as underlined below. Specifically;
- To build stronger policy advocacy around leveraging AI and green industrialization for Africa's sustainable development.
- To highlight strategies and best practices for harnessing the power of AI to boost productivity and efficiency across industrial sectors in Africa.
- To promote investments in AI solutions that can help revive and transform key industries in Africa.
- To facilitate experience and knowledge sharing between policymakers, industries, academia, civil society and development partners on integrating AI in production systems.
- To explore collaborative initiatives between public and private sector for increased funding in AI research and development for industrial applications.
- To enhance technical skills and capabilities in AI and green technologies critical to Africa's industrial growth and global competitiveness, in line with the existing Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA7 2016-2025), SDG 2030 and the AU Agenda 2063 which aims to transform and revitalize education in Africa.
- To showcase innovative use cases of AI and green industrialization by youths and women entrepreneurs in Africa.
- To formulate policy recommendations and actionable strategies for mainstreaming AI and green industry in Africa's industrialization planning and development agenda.
Expected Outcomes
- Stronger policy frameworks and advocacy plans formulated to integrate AI and green industrialization in Africa's development policies and strategies at national, regional and continental levels.
- Increased awareness and knowledge on the applications of AI in enhancing productivity, efficiency and competitiveness across Africa's industrial sectors.
- New partnerships and investment commitments established to fund AI and green technology R&D and scale up deployment in Africa's industries.
- Enhanced collaboration between policymakers, industries, academia and other stakeholders to develop sector-specific AI adoption roadmaps.
- Increased skills, capabilities and technical expertise in AI and green industrial technologies across industrial workforce and institutions in Africa.
- New databases and knowledge exchange platforms developed to showcase AI and green technology innovations by youths and women entrepreneurs in Africa.
- Valuable case studies and best practices documented on the implementation of AI and green industry solutions in Africa.
- Comprehensive policy recommendations and action plans developed for mainstreaming AI and green industrialization in Africa's development policies and strategies.
- Commitments from stakeholders to implement strategies and actions for harnessing AI and green industry to advance Africa's industrialization.
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