Addis Ababa — A decade after the first National Transformation Forum that was held in 2003, the Cape Verde Centre for Strategic Policies in collaboration with partners such as the Economic Commission for Africa, will hold the second National forum on the country's economic Transformation Forum from 14-16 May. The Forum will focus on a "constructive review of the progress and plan for the future."

Cape Verde has seen an expansion of its economic base, with a well told story of an emerging services-based economy, where tourism, agribusiness and fishing are becoming potential dynamic sectors. Among other gains, the country has graduated from the United Nations' list of Least Developed Countries, with a rapid growth in income levels and substantial reduction in poverty.

According to the organizers, much has changed since the first forum in 2003. The country records substantial reforms aimed at reducing corruption, improvements in quality of transactions and growing admiration for being on the road to achieving the eight MDGs; by 2015, the country will have reduced poverty by half.

But with improvements come a number of challenges that the Forum will aim to tackle, including the country's high unemployment rate, particularly among young people, lack of adequate infrastructure and other significant constraints related to foreign aid and foreign direct investment. Further, the Forum will look into growing concerns related to the middle-income trap, which experts say is tied to the consequences of low investment levels, slow growth, limited diversification of the production base, and limited labor market conditions.

The Forum will also look into the country's structural vulnerabilities, such as 'insularity versus discontinuity and territorial smallness, which the Forum's concept document states, are problematic, as they impose high costs for economic activities. These vulnerabilities are particularly evident in relation to infrastructure development across the country's nine inhabited islands, where solutions are needed to address the high costs of transportation and basic access to water, energy and other social facilities.

The organizers state that in the medium term, Cape Verde will not be eligible for concessional loans from major international institutions, such as the African Development Bank until 2014. In addition, it is believed that if the low global growth and the crisis in the Eurozone persist, aid in the form of grants from the country's development partners will decline further. Further, the window to increase the debt level will gradually close. This, state the organizers, is happening at a time when there is a need for massive investment to further improve infrastructure, human resources, and deepen and broaden reforms. As stated by the organizers, these are key to the country's competitiveness.

With these issues in mind, the forum will aim for robust and innovative strategies. The organizers stress that the vision for economic transformation is the best solution for the country to avoid the middle-income trap.

Leading up to the forum and the post-forum phase are studies, strategic dialogues, action plans and the appropriate system to measure and monitor the transformation agenda.