A number of top leaders including Nobel Peace Prize winner, Houcine Abassi, one of the members of the Tunisian Quartet who received the award in 2015 for nurturing a peaceful transition after the Arab Spring , addressed this important meeting . The ITUC-Africa Secretary-General, Comrade Kwasi Adu-amankwah, who was part of the delegation, also adressed a communication on the role of trade unions for a mobilization for a sustainable world.

The conference addressed the challenges and opportunities of the Future World of Work for the African continent and the important role of unions in this New Digital World in creating difference working materials.

Africa’s population is expected to double in the next 20 years up to 2 billion people, with the number of young people rising from 452 million to 1.2 billion, and the creation of new middle class of around 300 million drawn to new mega-cities. The number of multinationals operating in Africa is also expected to grow many fold, some from within Africa, others from outside, including the continued influence of China.The importance of Youth and Women to the future of Africa was underlined in a side meeting.