2nd EU-Africa Business Forum set for Accra

The Second EU-Africa Business Forum, an annual event jointly organised by the African Union (AU) Commission and the European Commission, is to take place 21-22 June in Accra, Ghana, AU sources said here Friday.

The Forum will examine progress on the recommendations at the first meeting with a view to addressing bottlenecks towards the enhancement of business development in Africa.

The AU and the EU institutionalised the Forum as part of efforts to improve the environment for business and increase investment in Africa. The objectives of the Forum, held alternately between Africa and Europe, are three-fold.

Firstly, it aims at influencing improvements in the business and investment climate in Africa through enhanced governance, capacity building and policy coherence to make business and investment in the continent easier and more attractive.

The second goal is to give the private sector the opportunity to dialogue directly with the AU Commission and the EC, and, indirectly, with the African governments and regional organisations with which the two Commissions maintain a permanent dialogue.

Thirdly, the Forum seeks to make Africa more attractive to the European private sector by providing a more accurate and positive image of the continent as a place for business and investment.

The first Forum held 16-17 November 2006 in Brussels, came up with a private sector Declaration and a set of recommendations on ways of improving Africa's business climate.

Discussions in Accra will centre on interconnectivity – covering all infrastructure required for the efficient functioning of business and reducing transaction costs or the cost of doing business.

Trade issues, including standards and quality of products, tariff and non-tariff barriers, trade facilitation as well as means of addressing these issues would also be discussed at the Forum along with other aspects of business creation and development.

Participants will also compare notes on entrepreneurship development, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility, vocational training and investment issues that are crucial to Africa's private investors attempting to build up companies that could become the backbone of the continent's economy.

African and European business leaders representing multinationals, large corporations, small and medium-scale enterprises and confederations, as well as multilateral and regional institutions are expected to attend the Forum. 9 June 2007 - PANA

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