Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. sees “huge potential” for renewable-resources projects in African nations to help them deal with the effects of climate change, Chairman Andrew Forrest said.
The mining company is looking at opportunities in Mauritania and projects across Morocco, Forrest said in an interview at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa forum in Marrakesh on Tuesday.
“For those companies and those governments who are not listening, particularly to the people of North Africa who know this is their shot, this is their time to be supported,” he said. “Let’s get in behind Africa, let’s give this beautiful continent its shot.”
African Nations Target Common Currency (June 13, 10 a.m.)
African nations are intent on introducing a common currency, which will help cut the cost of doing business on the continent, according to an official who’s spearheading efforts for a regional free-trade agreement.
“There is an objective to have a common currency,” Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, said Tuesday in an interview at the forum. “In the meantime, we have introduced a tool that is a step in that direction and that is payments for trade based on a single platform for trade in Africa. I believe that that is what will place us on a path to a common currency that we will all want to see one day.”
An accord that establishes the world’s biggest free-trade zone by area became operational in January 2021 and is set to kick into full gear in 2030. So far 47 of 55 African nations have ratified it.
“It is happening at a relatively fast pace,” Mene said. “We have to move fast as a continent because we are 50 years behind, 70 years behind.”
New Economy Conference Kicks Off in Marrakesh, Morocco (June 13, 10:10 a.m.)
Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa began Tuesday in the Moroccan city, bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss the world’s major issues, from the impact of a slowing global economy to rising food and energy prices and the growing risk of distress among sovereign borrowers.
Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg opened the two-day event with a video address, followed by remarks from Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch. Panels with delegates from the continent and beyond will discuss Africa’s debt burden, its infrastructure and clean energy potential, as well as the business of sport.
--With assistance from Matthew Hill.
