The World Economic Forum (WEF) says it will resume hosting its Africa summit in South Africa in April 2027 after a seven-year absence caused by the Covid-19 pandemic when most global events were cancelled. 

The summit will be held either in Johannesburg or Cape Town, Chido Munyati, WEF’s Head of Africa told CNBC Africa in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, at WEF’s 56th annual meeting (from January 19-23).  

The last WEF Africa meeting was held in Cape Town from September 4-6, 2019. 

On Tuesday, CNBC Africa will moderate a session focused on creating jobs for the continent’s young people. The WEF’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report says by 2050, lower income countries are projected to hold 59% of the global working age population, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa and India. 

The segment will focus on the impact of initiatives including the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, the renewable energy opportunity and the role of innovation in driving large-scale job creation. It’s a discussion Africa desperately needs. 

As per WEF, about 3,000 participants from more than 130 countries will attend this year’s summit in Davos, among them United States President Donald Trump. 

President Trump’s America First policy has punished neutrals, friends and foes alike: trade tariffs levied against almost every country in the world including tiny African country Lesotho– with a population of two million–and neutral Switzerland which at one point sat with 39% tariffs. 

India, the world’s largest democracy and previously one of the biggest U.S. allies in Asia, is today battling 50% tariffs while NATO allies in the European Union have been threatened with tariffs as high as 25% if they don’t cede ground on the President’s demand to control Greenland, the world’s largest island.