From: Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, June 5, GNA - The 18th World Economic Forum designed to engage political and business leaders in a brainstorming exercise to determine the major "drivers of change" required for Africa's turnaround opened on Wednesday, with a call by President John Agyekum Kufuor for bold and decisive move towards integration of African economies through sub-regional blocs.

He said it was by so doing that African countries would be able to create larger markets to help them benefit from economies of scale and the leverage to negotiate for better trade deals.

President Kufuor said it was time his colleague political leaders looked beyond narrow and small nation divide and opened their borders. "Capitalizing on Opportunity" is the theme of the three day high-level meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, that had brought together more than 800 decision-makers from about 50 countries to address the challenges facing the continent to enable it become a more reliable and competitive partner in the global economy.

It is being held against the backdrop of the progress Africa has been making over the past few years, stabilizing its economies and pursuing fiscal and macro economic policies that were sending strong signals that there were new opportunities on the horizon.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, President Bingu Wa Mutharika of Malawi, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga, Sadako Ogata, President of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Chairman and Chief Executive of Coca Cola Company, Mr Neville Isdell, United States Assistant Secretary for Africa, Jendayi Frazer and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World, the United Arab Emirates major investor, are attending the forum. President Kufuor expressed optimism about Africa's future and said given fair trade and market access, there was no doubt that it would be able to hold its own in dignity.

He said with its endowed natural and human resources, the continent had all it took to grow and improve on the situation of its peoples, adding, what it needed was positive and mutually rewarding partnerships to move into globalisation.

Regarding the upcoming meeting of the world's leading industralized countries (G8) in Japan, President Kufuor said, his expectation was that the meeting would put in place a Monitoring and Evaluation System to follow through the pledges of support the economic powers make to Africa.

Presidents Mbeki, Mutharika, Nkurunziza and Prime Minsiter Odinga, all shared President Kufuor's confidence in Africa's political and economic future.

However, they acknowledged the need to move quickly to deal with challenges of instability and conflicts to ensure better management of the continent's resources to lift Africans out of poverty. Later, at a special session on Ghana's growth prospects and potential, President Kufuor described the country as "great land opportunity" and asked investors to look more towards it as the place to do business.

He said the economic fundamentals within the past seven years had been put right and ready for partnerships on win-win basis. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was now above six per cent up from 3.7 per cent in 2000 and the economy could have performed even better but for the crude oil price hike. President Kufuor used the occasion to speak about the legacy he wanted to leave with the country that was, a nation at peace with itself.

He was deter mined to ensure smooth transfer of power to his successor through the creation of level electoral playing field. "As much as I have come to appreciate political power, I would want to step aside at the end of my tenure," he said, drawing applause from the audience made up mainly of the world's business leaders. 5 June 08