Freetown -- His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria, His Excellency John Agyekum Kuffor President of Ghana and His Excellency Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone, will be opening the West Africa Investment Forum (WAIF), organized by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), supported by the Business Support Group, Nigeria, a statement from CBC states Tuesday.

The Forum entitled 'Investment opportunities: growth though global partnerships' will be held on 20 -22 February 2006 at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria.

Dr Mohan Kaul, Chief Executive of CBC emphasized that "enhancing trade, mobilising investment, facilitating ICT for development, and formulating public private partnerships, together with high level networking, are the key ingredients for accelerated change".

He added, "Nigeria has been identified as part of the Next Eleven (N-11), a country that has 'BRICs potential', it has shown a 5.1 per cent average GDP growth rate between 2000 and 2005 and this year growth is expected to reach 10 per cent ".

Dr Kaul explained that "the WAIF's critical objective is to bring both governments and businesses together to create the conditions for a successful market economy", these key issues are examined in CBC's Business Environment survey, 2005.

CBC investment forums play a significant role in bringing together government and the private sector to encourage economic growth in African countries.

"Growth has risen in a number of African countries such as Tanzania, up to 7.1% in 2003 from 3.5% in 1999. We believe that this is a direct result of much closer collaboration between government and private sector", added Dr Kaul.

CBC is dedicated to the promotion of economic growth through international trade and investment. The 53 Commonwealth nations make up 40% of the World Trade Organization and comprise more than 17,000 listed companies.