Burkina Faso: The Prime Minister, Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélèm de Tambèla, opened the proceedings of the second edition of the African Business Leaders Meeting in Burkina Faso (REPAB)
The Prime Minister, Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélèm de Tambèla, opened the proceedings of the second edition of the African Business Leaders Meeting in Burkina Faso (REPAB) in Ouagadougou on Thursday, July 13, 2023. The event is centered around the theme « Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Opportunities, and Implications for African Economies».
Even if he acknowledged that Artificial Intelligence presents an opportunity, the Prime Minister emphasized the need for appropriate regulatory measures, as this innovation can also contain pitfalls and become another means of domination and exploitation of our people.
Approximately 100 participants from various African countries and around the world have converged on Ouagadougou for the second edition of the African Business Leaders Meeting in Burkina Faso (REPAB), taking place on July 13 and 14, 2023.
The focus of the event is to exchange ideas on the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its challenges and opportunities for African businesses.
During the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson Kyélèm de Tambèla highlighted that throughout history, economic systems have always evolved based on the means and innovations of different eras, such as stone tools, bronze, iron, draft and racing animals, steam engines, electricity, and now, the era of computing and AI.
The Prime Minister also stressed the important role of private enterprise leaders, stating that one cannot be considered a true business leader unless they have mastered a system or function.
He encouraged them to seize the new means of producing goods and services in their own interest and, more importantly, for the benefit of their country and Africa as a whole.
He urged the business leaders to be modern-day Moses and Arminius (Hermann), using AI not only to liberate their people but also for the prosperity of their country and Africa.
However, he emphasized that it is their responsibility to master AI, as Moses and Arminius did, and to utilize it to free their people from underproduction, disease, and poverty by investing in education, research, and supporting researchers.
The Prime Minister addressed the Burkinabe business leaders directly in these words: «You’ve already done a lot, but you haven’t done enough yet. Burkina Faso remains an underdeveloped country with many challenges to meet. Being big in a poor country is not very rewarding (…). You are the engines of the economy. I therefore invite you to seek, whatever the cost, to leave your name in history through your commitment to inventing another future for Burkina Faso and for Africa. The world of creativity is struggling in Burkina Faso. So are the agricultural and livestock sectors. Production, conservation and processing in these sectors are suffering from a lack of interest on the part of businessmen and women. Road and rail infrastructures are also on hold».
For him, African businessmen and women must help to conquer markets for our products, by ensuring that what is produced in Africa is controlled by our people.
Although he acknowledged that AI presents an opportunity to be seized in order to fit in better with the current changes in the economic system, he insisted that it must be used with «discernment, because it also contains pitfalls», in the sense that it « can make us mistake the true for the false, and the false for the true», and can ultimately « become another means of domination and exploitation of our peoples, if we don’t take the trouble to control it».
The Head of Government added: « With the rapid circulation of data through digital technology, artificial intelligence can be economically and socially devastating. It can destructure society. So, there’s a problem of awareness. So, we need to ensure that we have the right framework in place. The aim of the economy and economic systems is to be useful to society, not the other way round».
As part of this second edition of REPAB, a number of panels will be led by leading figures on several sub-themes related to the central theme, namely «The future of employment and the jobs of the future: artificial intelligence and the social revolution in Africa», «The challenges of artificial intelligence in major African public administrations: customs, taxes, civil status», « Artificial intelligence and business management in Africa» and « Big data artificial intelligence and security in Africa».
The second edition of REPAB is being held in conjunction with the General Assembly of the Federation of West African Employers’ Organizations (FAPAO).
Pedro Okalamar
