BECAUSE the future lies in the hands of the next generation, the OCP Policy Center is associating with young professionals to the high-level conference Atlantic Dialogues (AD 2017, December 13-15th, Marrakech), in spirit and in action.

Fifty young professionals aged 23 to 35, have arrived today in Marrakech from 25 different countries. They will hold three days of workshops before the Atlantic Dialogues conference.

On their schedule features one full day at the Polytechnic University Mohamed VI (Marrakech). They will also meet 20 Alumnis of the ADEL network, which has grown from 35 to 250 members between 2012 and 2017.

Of the 50 young professionals 23 are women while 27 are men.

A breakdown of the statistics from the OCP Policy center showed that Africans 27 in number of which six are North Africans; South Americans are eight, North Americans are seven while one person is from Asia.

Also, 15 persons are from the private sector, 11 from think tank and the academia, 11 from the public sector; 11 from non-governmental organisations and four from international organisations.

Nearly 1000 young professionals have applied this year for the programme. The OCP Policy Center selected them on their submission files. “The 50 selected Emerging Leaders for the 2017 cohort have shown initiative abilities, a leadership potential and vision in their field – whether politics, finance, business, academia or civil society. All of them also want to reinforce their transatlantic links,” the Center said.

Malancha Chakrabarty, associate Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, ORF, in New Delhi (India), is one of the 50 Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leader 2017. She will feature among the speakers at the December 14, Atlantic Dialogues evening session on “Asia’s New African Horizons”. She holds a PhD in Economics, and has worked on a thesis on the nature and impact of Chinese trade, investment and development cooperation in Angola, DRC and Ethiopia. She heads the ORF’s team researching India’s development relations with Africa.

“They will be encouraged throughout the Atlantic Dialogues to think independently, if not in a “provocative” manner. They will have the opportunity to meet the conference speakers and participants from December 13th to 15th. They will also be propelled in an unusual way in the conference, where they will present practical projects focused on change and development,” the OCP Policy Center said.

–  Dec 11, 2017 @ 15:12 GMT |