Obasanjo opens Nepad business forum
Business Day SA, - Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday opened in Abuja an international business forum organised to promote the African private sector as the engine of growth for economic development on the continent.
- Top policymakers in the public and private sectors of African countries and the international community are taking part in the two-day interactive forum with the theme "Wealth Creation for Poverty Eradication in Africa".
The organisers of the forum, the Nepad Business Group in Nigeria (NBGN), the private arrowhead of Nepad, Africa's economic development and poverty eradication blueprint, said that the gathering would focus specially on infrastructure, intra-African trade and investment, regional economic cooperation and partnerships, manufacturing and the informal sector.
"I want to assure participants in this forum that we will continue to encourage the private sector within the public-private partnership framework to create wealth and eradicate poverty," Obasanjo said.
He said that there was an urgent need to develop robust financial and capital markets and promote the formation of a pan-African stock exchange.
"Government ought to play a catalyst role towards the establishment of this institution," he said.
Contrary to what organisers of the forum earlier said, Obasanjo was the only head of state present at the forum's opening.
Organisers have said that Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, John Kufuor of Ghana and Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal would take part in the forum, held ahead of a two-day African Union summit set to begin on Sunday in Abuja.
"The four heads of state (including Obasanjo) have confirmed their participation in the forum," one of the organisers, Wale Egunjobi, said.
Participants will discuss Nepad and private sector participation in African economies, investment, competitiveness and market access for goods.
Other issues set for discussion are fostering investment partnership for growth and economic development, oil, gas and mineral resources, agriculture and agro-allied processing, the informal sector, small and medium scale companies, tourism and inter-African trade.
