NEPAD, a driving force - Kufuor

Abuja, July 16, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor has referred to NEPAD as a driving force behind many joint undertakings of major investments, in promoting regional and continental integration and other economic activities.

He said, today, NEPAD has gained international recognition through its activities.

President Kufuor said the NEPAD initiative has brought Africa to the realisation of the need to collaborate, locally and internationally for rapid development.

He said the West African Gas Pipeline and the ECOWAS Bank for investment are perfect examples of such collaborations.

President Kufuor made these remarks at the on-going 6th Leon H. Sullivan Africa African-American Summit in Abuja, Nigeria. The NEPAD initiative, he said, is gradually changing the political, economic and business landscape of Africa.

Appraising the economic potentials of Africa, he said, with the right appreciation of the factors of a positive transition, coupled with the massive resources and an estimated untapped population of over 600 million will belie any simplistic evaluation of the problems of Africa. He said, there could not have been an apt theme: "Africa The Continent Of Possibilities." The theme, he said, reinforces the emergence of a new crop of African leaders, determined to stamp out the perceived negative factors and tendencies prevalent on the continent. Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in a tribute, described Leon H. Sullivan, the founder of the summit as a man, who was totally devoted to serving humanity and that his vision was to "build bridges from his country of birth to his country of origin."

He described the summit as the most eloquent testimony of the trans-Atlantic bond, which has been designed to heal scars of the slave trade as well as focus on the great economic potentials, and opportunities that exist in Africa.

President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso called on his colleagues to endeavour to make Africa an attractive investment destination. Other messages came from Presidents of Zimbabwe, Benin, Sao Tome and Principe and the Vice-President of Kenya.

Meanwhile, President Kufuor and other African leaders at the summit have condemned the military coup in Sao Tome and Principe. They called on all democrats and people of Africa to condemn such acts, which they described as detrimental to the progress of Africa.