The lecture will be held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Saturday, under the theme: "The State of the Continent" . The foundation says preceding this event, will be a series of events, including a Blue Economy Roundtable discussion which took place in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam.

Former SA President, Thabo Mbeki addressed the delegates at the meeting, saying that the situation about the Blue Economy on the continent has been neglected and deprived Africa of an opportunity to grow its economy.

“After Africa's Independence during the 1960's, the continent paid minimum focus on the Blue Economy. And said imagine situation if the continent had acted differently from the 60's onwards and really focused on this Blue Economy as we defined it. You know, it's clear that here we are dealing with an area of social economic activity, which is of great importance for the future of the continent. The situation hasn't changed much,” the former SA president said.

Thabo Mbeki Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Max Boqwana, says the decision to move the lecture around the African continent was intentional.

“We started in Guinea-Conakry, there was a particular reason why we had to go to Guinea-Conakry because this is almost the birth place of Africa’s interaction with SA’s liberation process. That’s the place where President (Nelson) Mandela and President (Thabo) Mbeki’s father, Govern Mbeki, first went to for their military training,” Boqwana said.

--SABC/ChannelAfrica--