| Team up or miss development train, Janneh tells African nations Addis Ababa, 03 March 2009 (ECA) - The UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, has urged African countries to team up and work together because the “transformation of Africa is beyond the resources and capacities of individual countries and companies”. Speaking at the 5th World Business Congress and the 1st IGAD Investment Forum in Addis Ababa today, Mr Abdoulie Janneh, said that Africa 's development “requires coherent action and closer integration of countries, which in turn calls for greater collaboration by all countries within specific sub-regions”. The African World Business Congress is one of the key continental business events and has held annually in Dakar, Senegal (2004), Accra, Ghana (2005), Bamako, Mali (2006 and Arusha, Tanzania (2007) respectively. It brings together over 500 participants, on the average, from all over Africa and worldwide for business contacts and strategic planning. This year, the AWBC 2009 is being held concurrently with the 1st IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) Investment Forum and the Government of Ethiopia is hosting both events at the UN Conference Centre. The African Business Roundtable and the NEPAD Business Group have followed this formula in previous editions. IGAD is one of the more vibrant Regional Economic Communities in Eastern Africa and regroups six countries: Djibouti , Ethiopia , Kenya , Sudan , Somalia and Uganda . Ethiopia currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the organization. Coming amidst fears that the current crisis could affect growth, trade, investment flows, trade credits, remittances, tourism and shortfalls in public revenues, Mr. Janneh took the opportunity to lay out his vision on what he thinks African countries need to do to keep their economies on the positive growth curve. He focused on integration, which is one of the key pillars of UNECA work, and explained that Africa must accelerate the pace of regional integration so as to provide basis for competitive markets and diversification of its production structures. He argued that, “for the business sector in Africa to grow and contribute to poverty reduction and economic development, domestic investment as a proportion of GDP must improve from an average 18% in Sub-Saharan Africa to between 25% and 30%, which is the average rate in East Asia ”. Mr. Janneh called on the congress to look into the impact of this crisis on the fight against poverty and the on-going effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals”. Mr. Girma Wolde Giorgis, President of the Federal, Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, delivered the keynote address of the opening session. Other speakers were Dr. Bamanga Tukur, President of the African Business Roundtable and Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group and Mr. Mahboub Maalin, Executive Secretary of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development. The government of Ethiopia hopes to benefit from the events by using them as a platform to promote investment opportunities in their own country. This explains the content of the speech made by its Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Ato Sufian Ahmed, in which he essentially portrayed the country as one of the most attractive regional investment hubs because of the political stability and friendly investment and tax codes it has adopted. Participants are scheduled to hold eight sessions before the meeting ends on 5 February, on subjects are varied as, Investment opportunities in IGAD countries; Success Stories of Investments in IGAD countries; Roundtable meeting on issues of Trade and Regional Integration; Africa Readiness for the 21st Century Economy; Identifying Effective Infrastructure Projects to facilitate Inter-Regional trade and developing suitable financing mechanisms; Enhancing Africa's Industrial and Manufacturing Competitiveness, Output and Access to markets; African Economic Outlook: Achieving Growth under Global Downturn; and Privatization Programme and Investment in the mining and Energy Sector.
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