

Entrepreneur urges African leaders to improve business climate

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The executive secretary of the West African Enterprises Network (REAO), Senegalese Mabousso Thiam, Tuesday in Dakar appealed to African states to improve the business environment if they want to attract private investors.

"Fine words butter no parsnips. We expect heads of states to establish the rule of law in all African countries," Thiam said.

"Even though we cannot have a supranational legislation, each country should try to create the conditions to secure investments, which is a necessary condition for the development of the private sector," he said.

He was speaking in an interview with PANA on the fringes of the conference on the participation of the private sector in the financing of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Thiam said that he was very pleased with the holding of the conference, adding that the number and the diversity of the origins of the participants made the meeting a success.

"Heads of states don't often mobilise so many people, which clearly shows the interest the private sector has for the initiatives they have taken. We hope that their speeches will result in concrete actions," he said.

On his organisation that groups 100 enterprises from all West African countries, Thiam explained that REAO plays an important role for the sub-region's integration.

"The enterprises in our organisation work by definition in a sub-regional logic and sometimes continental. So we are important actors of integration. Consequently, we wish that political decision-makers listen to us and take into account our concerns as well," he said.

Dakar - 16/04/2002