[1] The New York Forum was initiated by Richard Attias, former organizer of the World Economic Forum and co-founder of the Clinton Global Initiative in order to create a global meeting "dedicated to growth".
[2] Attias wanted to create "an event exclusively dedicated to economic issues"[3] that would be solution oriented.
Over the years participants have included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,[4] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, businessman Ricardo Salinas[5] and IMF director Christine Lagarde.
Many personalities such as Robert De Niro and Muhammad Yunus took part in the debates about Africa's economic future.
[10] Speakers and participants included President Paul Kagame from Rwanda, Laurent Fabius,[11] French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Vicente Fox, ex-President of Mexico, Youssou N’Dour, former Minister of Tourism and Culture of Senegal, Tunisia's former Minister of Finance Jaloul Ayed, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA Carlos Lopes, International recording artist Akon, among others.