President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday called on Ghanaians living abroad to inculcate the national values in the upbringing of their children so that they will not grow up alienated from home.

"Obviously, the children you are bringing up in your new homes do not and will not have the same attachment or pull to Ghana. Unless you make a definite effort, they would probably see themselves as Americans or Black British," he said.

President Kufuor was speaking at the opening of the Homecoming Summit for Ghanaians living abroad in Accra on the theme: "Harnessing the global Ghanaian resource for accelerated national development."

"It is your challenge to turn the minds of such young people towards home," he told the about 1,000 participants of varying professional and economic backgrounds who are attending the first summit organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre.

The participants are expected to brainstorm on how to go beyond the over 400 million dollars remittances they send to their families annually to invest in the economy.

President Kufuor, who was flanked by Vice-President Aliu Mahama, the acting Chief Justice, Mr Justice Edward Wiredu, Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey and Ministers of State, asked the participants to feel at home.

He said some of them left Ghana due to political instability or persecution, to study or seek greener pastures. What is more important, he added, are the skills and new attitudes they have acquired to help transform the economy.

"All of you Ghanaians, living abroad, members of the Diaspora, for want of a better term, constitute the single most important development partner of the nation."

He said despite the widespread poverty in the country there is no excuse why basic needs such as potable water, shelter, food and education should be denied the people.

President Kufuor said his administration has as its cornerstone the policy to create wealth to satisfy such needs, explaining that this can be done if the economy is transformed.

He said for this to happen there is the need for political stability to attract investments from Ghanaians abroad. "I do not want one set of Ghanaians to come back home only to be replaced with another set of Ghanaians going into exile."

The President warned, however, that those who dissipate government funds and resources would be punished.