Former President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has arrived in Lake Como, Italy, to join global leaders, policymakers, scholars and strategic experts at an international workshop, where he is expected to advocate for a new development model that prioritises strategic partnerships over aid dependency for Africa.
The workshop, organised by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), is themed “Big Daddy Gone? Global Partnerships Without U.S. Leadership.” It brings together experts from across the world to examine the future of international cooperation amid shifting global power dynamics.
Ahead of the event, Saraki said Africa must seize the changing global landscape as an opportunity to redefine its engagement with the international community.
“This is a question that will define the coming decade. What does global partnership look like when it is no longer led by Washington? For too long, Africa’s relationship with the world has been framed around aid. The real opportunity is partnership — trade, investment, and mutual interest that treat Africa as an equal, not a recipient. A shifting global order is not a vacuum to fear. It is an opening to build something better,” he said.
Saraki is scheduled to speak on Tuesday during a panel on “Development Policies: Withdrawal of the United States from International Development — Opportunities and Challenges,” where he will present the African perspective.
He was selected as one of only two African participants among the 22-member delegation, drawing on his experience in both the public and private sectors, including his tenure as President of the Nigerian Senate, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and Governor of Kwara State.
The panel will also feature Dr. Paola Bautista de Alemán of Venezuela and Prof. Christian Leuprecht of Canada’s Royal Military College, with the session chaired by Dr. Tilmann Feltes of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
Other discussions at the conference will focus on the future of U.S. foreign policy, Germany’s global partnership priorities, emerging geopolitical alliances, strategic dependencies, international development, and new defence partnerships.
The three-day workshop, running from June 29 to July 1, has attracted participants from Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, India, Argentina, Venezuela, the Philippines, Chile, Liberia and Poland.
