World Sustainability Forum speaker says Africa can end poverty by 2030
Sustainable development goals are the agenda at the forum in Cape Town where the outlook is largely positive, despite SA’s education crisis
Africa can end extreme poverty by 2030 with heavy investments in education and health‚ much like China did. This is the opinion of world-renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs‚ the keynote speaker at the opening of the sixth World Sustainability Forum in Cape Town on Friday. China and east Asia were transformed in a short period with well-targeted investments of between 30% and 40% and Africa can learn from their case, he said: "If Africa can substantially raise its investments rates ... then its overall growth rate would increase and poverty would plummet." High on the agenda of the two-day meeting are the UN-led 17 sustainable development goals (SDG) adopted in September 2015‚ following on from its millennium development goals. These "global goals"‚ which include quality education and the combination of good health and well-being‚ underscore the type of long-term investments needed to eliminate poverty‚ Sachs noted. Today‚ about 5% of people remain in extreme poverty in China and East A...
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