Dr Mohieldin Emphasizes Pan-African Integration 

"Africa faced three tough crises in the past period: Food, fuel and the credit crunch. They require flexibility and pragmatism to address. Africa needs to better benefit from the experiences of other countries like China, Singapore and Korea, which made a tangible success in the field of development and investment improvement.

It is useless to stick to sluggish intellectual patterns," Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, told a session entitled "Investment Promotion Strategies" on the sidelines of the 3rd COMESA Investment Forum in Sharm El Sheikh.

'The African Continent is a land with several investment-attracting merits such as the abundance of natural and human resources," Dr. Mohieldin told the session attended by Swazi Minister of Commerce, Jabulile Mashwama and deputy head of the Dubai Chamber of Trade and Industry, Hisham Asha'rawi.

He highlighted to the importance of investing in the human element and targeting countries worldwide to attract more investments and increase growth.

Dr. Mohieldin believes it is essential to look for new ideas to stimulate investments by drawing upon the culture and knowledge of other countries.

He also pointed to the importance of raising the amount of savings here and outside as a means to fund the investment projects.

"The post-credit crunch world needs to focus more on the opportunities available in the fields of energy," Dr. Mohieldin told the meeting joined by CEO of Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL), Nigel Chanakira, and the deputy chairman of the African Development Bank (ADB).

"Equally important is to keep the balance between raising the rate of investment and its fair distribution," he noted.

Moreover, Dr. Mohieldin stressed the importance of cooperative action in order to attain pan-African regional integration through cooperation in achieving political stability, combating corruption and increasing investments in infrastructure projects that create a better investability climate, particularly in labor-intensive projects.

"The common market and an investment and business dispute settlement mechanism would help encourage investment in COMESA member states," Dr. Mohieldin said.