Praia, Cape Verde — The Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa paid an official visit to Cape Verde at the invitation of the Prime-Minister of the country, José Maria Neves on the occasion of the second National Forum on Cape Verde's Transformation held in Praia, 14-16 May.
The official visit was infused with insights on the geo-economic strategic partnerships of Cape Verde. In a special plenary session at the National Assembly of Cape Verde, moderated by the former President of Cape Verde, Pedro Pires, Mr. Lopes delivered a keynote speech on the theme, "Changing mentalities: the challenges of an insular country vis-à-vis the global trends". He shared his insights on the economic opportunities ahead and on the elements that the country will need to rethink vis-à-vis the current global trends.
He said that the country has demonstrated good levels of governance, democratic stability, human development, peace, security and social cohesion and that there is a need to rethink the costs of its democracy, decentralization and the demographic impact of an ageing population, as well as its geo-economic anchorage.
He stressed that Cape Verde needs to change its perception of Africa, in order to take advantage of the economic potential of a continent whose global GDP would make it part of the G7.
In addition to his participation at the II National Forum on Capo Verde's Transformation, the Executive Secretary held several meetings with high level government officials. In various meetings, He discussed Cape Verde's strategic economic measures for boosting the sea and air transportation clusters with the Country's President, Jorge Carlos Fonseca, Prime-Minister, José Maria Neves, the President of the National Assembly, Mr. Basílio Mosso Ramos and the Minister of External Affairs, Jorge Borges.
Mr. Lopes also met with the UN Country Team in the country which is chaired by the UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Ulrika Richardson. The discussions focused on his ideas regarding the country's transformation and on strategic ways of boosting economic relations with Africa, as well as the role of the United Nations in this regard.
He highlighted that Cape Verde will need to change its current perception of Africa and, in accordance with the current trends on the continent, would need to harness available resources.
While in Cape Verde, Mr. Lopes held two press conferences, one after the audience with the President of the Republic and the second after his audience with the Prime-Minister. Major television networks based in Cape Verde, Televisão Nacional de Cabo Verde and RTPI (Radiotelevisão Portuguesa Internacional), "Rádio de Cabo Verde", newspapers Expresso das Ilhas e A Semana were in attendance.
