Ghana's President John Agyekum Kufuor has called 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 was speaking at the 18th World Economic Forum designed to engag e political and business leaders in a brainstorming exercise to determine the major "drivers of change" required for Africa's turnaround, the Ghana News Agency reported.

He 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 that has brought together more than 800 decision-makers from about 50 countries to address the challenges facing the continent to enable it to 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 are sending strong signals that there are new opportunities on the horizon.

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 that what it needed was positive and mutually rewarding partnerships to move into globalisation.

On 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 made to Africa.

From afriquenligne.fr