Tony Blair speaks on Better Post COVID-19 Africa at 2020 Kofi Annan Lecture

THE African Development Institute of the African Development Bank (AfDB) will on Monday, November 16 November 2020 (from 10:50–12:00 GMT), host the 2020 edition of the Kofi Annan Eminent Speakers’ Lecture Series. The lecture will be held under the Bank’s Virtual Capacity Development Academy platform and the Eminent Speaker for this year is Tony Blair, the former UK Prime Minister. 

The theme for Mr Blair’s lecture is “Building Back Better in Post COVID-19 Africa: The Role of Technology and Governance.” The event also features a conversation between Mr. Blair and the AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina, on the subject.

Mr Blair is the Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute and former Prime Minister of the UK. Since leaving office, he has spent most of his time working on three areas: supporting governments to deliver effectively for their people, working for peace in the Middle East, and countering extremism.

The one hour event which will be moderated by the Acting Director, Communication and External Relations, AfDB Group, Mrs Nafissatou Diouf, will also feature opening remarks by the Chief Economist and Vice President AfDB, Dr Rabah Arezki, a welcome speech by the Bank’s President, Dr Adesina as well as a Question and Answer session.

Tony Blair served as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 1997 to 2007 – the only Labour leader in the party’s 100 year history to win three consecutive elections.

He established the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to work on some of the most difficult challenges in the world today, believing that real leadership has never been more necessary or more difficult.

Currently, teams from his institute are directly supporting leaders across the globe in their fight against COVID-19 as well as delivering analysis and advice to help countries mitigate the economic impact, to harness the power of technology and better position themselves for the rebuilding to come.

The Eminent Speakers’ Lecture Series was launched by the Bank in 2006 and rebranded as the Kofi Annan Eminent Speakers’ Lecture in 2018. The lecture has been a forum for sharing policy insights on development challenges in Africa.