How nations learn through global transformation

H.E Arkebe Oqubay, Senior Minister and Special Adviser to the Ethiopian Prime Minister delivered a lecture on how nations learn and catch up through global transformation last Thursday on campus at IE. Hosted by the IE Africa Club and the IE Global Transformation Club, Dr. Oqubay spoke on the strategic policy decisions taken by the Ethiopia government to rapidly industrialize.

H.E Oqubay has been at the center of policymaking in Ethiopia for over twenty five years. He is a former Mayor of Addis Ababa and Minister of Works and Urban Development. He currently serves as board chair of several leading public organizations and international advisory boards. He has been recognized as one of the 100 most influential Africans of 2016 and a ‘leading thinker on Africa’s strategic development’ by the New African for his work on industrial policies.

Sharing key findings from his recently launched book How Nations Learn: Technological Learning, Industrial Policy and Catch-up, H.E Oqubay made a case for the strong role the political economy has to play in ensuring developing nations can learn and catch up.