Representatives of multinational companies participating in the New York summit concluded that the negative international media image of the continent was having an impact on investor perceptions about Africa, and resolved to commit resources to address this.

Speaking to the forum, Papi Molotsane, CEO of Telkom South Africa, said : “In the last five years we have made much progress, economically and politically. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We must do more to promote our continent as an attractive investment destination. “The FIFA World Cup in 2010 represents a unique opportunity to market our continent, our goods, our services and our destinations to a global audience of more than 4 billion people. We must not only harness this attention but also convert it into investment.

“It is time to promote a vibrant economic image of our continent. Let’s seize this opportunity to present a new face to the world, a face that truly represents our beautiful and enterprising continent. Our development will come from our own investment, and we must invest in marketing our continent properly.”

Africa has a strong and vibrant private sector, but this is underreported in the Western media, where images of famine and conflict are regularly employed to characterise the continent. “Every unreported success story costs us jobs and impedes our development, as investors continue to focus their efforts and funds on more high profile investment destinations,” Dr Bamanga Tukur, Chairman of the NEPAD Business Group, stated. “The African private sector now stands ready to shout about our successes. Our message is clear ; Africa is open for business.”

Bending the Arc aims to share best practice and broker partnerships to help fast track the attainment of the MDGs in Africa.

Source : nepad news, 22 septembre 2006