The world must tap into Africa’s agriculture potential for region’s economic development: Sunil Bharti Mittal

The world must tap into the potential of Africa’s agriculture sector to ensure the continent’s development, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chair, B20 India Action Council on African Economic Integration & Chairperson Bharti Enterprises has recommended.

“Africa is a continent of hope; however, it is very backward. There is a need to adopt Africa to do agriculture as utilisation of 60 per cent of the uncultivated land in the continent can change the world,” the Indian telecom tycoon said on the opening day of the B20 forum Friday.

B20 serves as the official G20 dialogue platform representing the global business community.

The council headed by Mittal has further urged a complete transformation of Africa’s agriculture and food systems to sustainably improve productivity, food security and nutrition levels.

The Mittal-led council has also recommended promoting stronger human capital outcomes across health, education and skilling.

Another point highlighted concerns achieving structural transformation through industrialisation via private investment, technology adoption and enablement of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

Similarly, facilitation of trade to harness the potential of integration into regional and global value chains has also been emphasised.

The final recommendation is about bridging the physical and digital connectivity gaps through investments in infrastructure. Especially, the development of digital infrastructure could be a key enabler across priorities.

Based on the most pressing issues concerning businesses globally by B20 India, seven task forces were created for India’s G20 Presidency in the areas of Inclusive Global Value Chains (GVC)s for Resilient Global Trade and Investment; Future of Work, Skilling, and Mobility; Digital Transformation; Financing for Global Economic Recovery; Energy, Climate Change & Resource Efficiency; Tech, Innovation and R&D and Financial Inclusion for Economic Empowerment.

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