President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday called for cordial partnership between African governments and the private sector to enable the continent to join the mainstream of global development.
He said, this is crucial for the establishment of an investor friendly atmosphere to facilitate regular consultations between both sectors, enhance decision making and strengthen the credibility of governments as promoter of business development.
"The development of both the physical and technological infrastructure in Africa would be easier if both government and private sector work together," he said.
President Kufuor was speaking at a dinner held in honour of the participants attending the 11th African Business Roundtable (ABR)Conference at the Banquet Hall in Accra.
The theme of the three-day Conference is, "Regional Economic Integration and Private Sector Development in Africa.".
The ABR, established by the African Development Bank (ADB), in 1990, remains the premier continental-wide private sector organisation that has enjoyed international recognition.
President Kufuor said foreign investors monitor the activities of African businessmen and when they invest in their own countries and enjoy good relationship with their governments it would create congenial atmosphere for them to be more interested in the African economy.
"You must be the ones to display confidence in our economy before we could hope to attract foreigners to come and invest here. We therefore, cannot keep our monies in foreign banks and hope that the foreigners would bring their monies into our countries," he added.
He said when Africans invest in their countries, then the building blocks to get their economies right would then be properly put in place and this, coupled with the right policies, "good governance would spread in Africa."
"While capital enjoys good governance, it also prepares strong buoyant market, but Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa is under-developed and poorly resourced and this is why regional integration is crucial to attract both African and Foreign investments into our economy," he added.
President Kufuor said African governments have the responsibility to acknowledge the efforts of ABR, promote their undertakings and encourage them to use their network and creative vision to move their economies and create wealth that would be beneficial to the people.
"We all have the responsibility to ensure that we have the right atmosphere for these businesses to flourish and that could only happen when the rule of law reigns supreme, have a judiciary that is respected by all, a legislature that is vigorous and a free and independent media, then the entrepreneurial skills would be able to compete with the rest of the world," he added.
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Executive President of ABR said, in countries where the private sector were identified as the engine of growth, partnership between government and the private sector is the only way forward.
He said, ABR was established to promote private sector activities in African countries and it would continue to pursue its agenda, based on regional integration and in partnership with governments to maintain peace and stability on the continent.
