December 12^th, 2019, Beijing – Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn, a critical Ethiopian politician paid a visit to the Institute of South-south Cooperation and Development. Professor Fu Jun, the Academic Dean of the Institute gave him a warm welcome at the Stanford Center Peking University with a roundtable discussion with students.

With a career spanning for more than four decades, Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn has held a range of senior positions in the Ethiopian government. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from 2010 to 2012 and was the Chairperson of the African Union from 2013 to 2014. He also served as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018 and sustained constant growth for Ethiopia during his term. He completed many infrastructure and financial projects for his country to ensure its double-digit economic growth.

Putting his previous achievements aside, Mr. Desalegn has now joined the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (ARGA) and has called for efforts in investing in food security. During the meeting with Professor Fu and students, he said, “I hope in the coming 5 to 10 years, African countries will undertake activities to transform traditional agricultural practices into modern ones that can kick start agricultural revolution”

Most of the students who attended the meeting were international students from African countries studying at Peking University. They were intrigued by the concept of agricultural revolution and reform. They agreed with Mr. Desalegn, that Africa needs to modernize its agricultural practices, which would be an important force to transform economy and could be an excellent opportunity to train its work force. During the discussion session, they shared their experiences and insights from their own countries with anticipation to discuss the way forward with Mr. Desalegn.

Mr. Desalegn echoed what the students said and agreed that African governments should have their own agricultural domestic policy and programs. He said, “We should transform subsistence agriculture in African countries into commercial agriculture. Our farmers should be able to produce surplus both in amount and quality, so they can compete in global markets.”

After a two-hour interactive discussion, Professor Fu concluded the session with Mr. Desalegn by reinforcing on the idea of a shared vision of modernizing agricultural practices to achieve prosperity in Africa. A buffet followed thereafter to provide more opportunity for students to interact with Mr. Desalegn. 

By Xiaowei Zhuang