SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, Dec. 8 -- Meetings of Africa Forum 2018 kicked off on Saturday in Egypt's Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh with the participation of a number of African leaders from the countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
The forum will see discussions on infrastructure, entrepreneurship, investment, and women-related issues across the African continent.
The two-day event is organized by the Egyptian government through the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA), with the participation of more than 3,000 African entrepreneurs.
COMESA countries include Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The first day saw several sessions under the theme "Young Entrepreneurs Day," including one on strengthening regional economic systems in Africa by means of consolidating cross-border cooperation and opening up new markets for African economic blocs.
Another session on policies of African countries was held in the light of developments being witnessed in the entrepreneurship domain in Africa.
A number of sessions on empowering the African women were also held, including a roundtable discussion on the importance of gender equality in achieving African progress.
Another session discussed the role of women in outlining policies of the African continent with the participation of Egypt's Immigration Minister Nabila Makram, Environment Minister Yasmeen
Fouad, Mali's Foreign Minister Kamissa Camara and COMESA Secretary-General Chileshe Kapwepwe.
As a unique business-to-business and government-to-business platform, bringing together policy makers, financiers, leading industrialists and young entrepreneurs, this year's Africa Forum will focus on developing intra-African investments and the efforts to create the world's largest trading bloc of 1.2 billion people.
The forum features keynote speeches, interactive panel discussions, expert presentations and B2B engagement opportunities.
"I am happy that the organizers and the government of Egypt chose to put youths and women at the center stage ... that is the whole program for today," Vanessa Moungar, director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, told Xinhua.
Moungar said the African continent cannot develop without fully empowering its women, adding that this requires giving them equal access to education, health services and economic opportunity so that they can fully participate in private sector growth and make choices for themselves.
For her part, Mona Zulficar, a renowned Egyptian lawyer, said African countries have a common market which brings down the borders for trade, projects, value chain, development and business.
"We definitely need to meet to listen to each other and move together and this conference is the best platform for these goals," Zulficar, one of the speakers of the women empowerment session, told Xinhua.
Speaking about empowering women in China, Zulficar said African countries can learn from the Chinese experience "because China had a bigger challenge, which is the demographic challenge."
"China managed not to leave women behind ... we hope that it will share with us its experience and we will be very grateful," she noted.
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:虚拟语气陷阱题
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:非谓语动词陷阱题
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第3课时《avoid~blood》
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:连词陷阱题
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第15课时《message~nobody》
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第12课时《hat~inn》
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第1课时《a~amount》
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:强调句型陷阱题
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修3 Module 1 Europe
2016届高考(北师大版)英语一轮复习:第一部分模块复习方略 选修七 20
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修3 Module 4 Sandstorms in Asia
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第4课时《blouse~careful》
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修4 Module 1 Life in the Future
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第14课时《lend~mess》
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第5课时《careless~clue》
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第2课时《amuse~average》
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修2 Module 6 Films and TV Programmes
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第11课时《funeral~harvest》
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修3 Module 6 Old and New
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:第9课时《elegant~favor》
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:介词陷阱题
上海市2016届高三英语一轮核心词汇复习:General Revision1
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修4 Module 2 Traffic Jam
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:冠词陷阱
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修3 Module 5 Great People and Great Inventions of Ancient China
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:形容词副词陷阱题
2016届高考(北师大版)英语一轮复习:第一部分模块复习方略 选修七 21
2016届高考英语一轮复习(外研版)考点规范训练:必修3 Module 2 Developing and Developed Countries
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:状语从句陷阱题
广州市广雅中学高考英语一轮陷阱题指导:短语动词陷阱题