BTN President, Olori Boye-Ajayi and Adebayo Adeleke are set to Speak at the WTO Public Forum 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland | September 30th

Gender, Trade and Economic Development Expert and President of the Borderless Trade Network, Dr. Olori Boye-Ajayi will be joining other industry experts – Adebayo Adeleke (CEO, Supply Chain Africa), Jan Hoffman (Head, Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Parminder Vir, OBE (Senior Advisor, The Village Foundation), and Gbemisola Osadua (Lead Advisor, Dynamics Impact Advisory (DIA) – at the World Trade Organization forum in a working session to discuss and identify solutions to leverage technology on trading operations in Africa.

This year’s Public Forum will look at how trade can contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery and examine how trade rules can be strengthened, and government policies improved to create a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive trading system.

The session titled “Harnessing Technology and Digital Innovation to Advance Africa’s Trade and Sustainable Development Agenda” slated for the 30th of September 2022 at the World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland will highlight how the potentials of digital innovation and technology could be harnessed, to promote trade in the Africa region, to accelerate sustainable economic recovery, and build back better on the continent.

The role of youth-led initiatives and innovations in accelerating this progress would be particularly spotlighted for action.
The ‘Ambition to Action’ forum which is organized by Dynamics Impact Advisory (DIA), Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF), Africa Youth and Governance Convergence (AYGC) will seek to understand the post-COVID impact and how young people have successfully diminished the challenges on social and economic lives.

Olori Boye-Ajayi stressed the importance of strengthening Africa’s trade systems to global horizons and why this upcoming forum is a big step forward for Africans. She expressed,

“I’m really looking forward to discussion and solutions to the world shocks ongoing, especially those that affect the vulnerable groups adversely in the least developed countries (LDCs) members of Africa. As a network, Borderless Trade makes it a top priority to channel relevant solutions that affect women in trade to the women when it’s needed the most – and that time is now.”

“My expectation from this forum is to gain experience from trade professionals globally about some of the supply chain challenges we are facing and have discussions on how to progressively solve some of these challenges. Additionally, I am also looking forward to showcasing African supply chains’ capabilities, capacities, challenges, and opportunities and how the world at large should think differently when it comes to African supply chains”, Adeleke said.

Dr. Olori is an advocate for women entrepreneurs and a driver for economic change in Africa. In 2021, she was appointed to drive ‘WINHer’ – a gender-inclusion investment program, on behalf of the Office of the Commissioner of Trade and Investment of Vanuatu to Nigeria and South Africa. She was also appointed MANSA Ambassador by Afreximbank driving the inclusion of African SMEs in the global trade scene.

The Public Forum is the WTO’s largest annual outreach event providing a unique platform for heads of states, parliamentarians, businesspeople, etc to come together and debate a wide range of trade and development topics.
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