PANELLISTS at a recently held INGO Third sector conference African Ambassadors Interactive Forum in London have called on Africans and people of African descent to have confidence and invest in the business activities of the continent of Africa as the continent is really open for business.

Founded in 2002, INGO Third Sector Resource is an International Organization uniting, galvanizing, mobilizing and repositioning the African NGOs and the Third Sector Organizations.

The group aims at building a proactive civil society to help Africa attain the millennium development goal, through the networks, partnerships and collaborative approach that the INGO conference platform provides. This years African Ambassadors Interactive forum, the first of such for a to be held outside the continent of Africa and sponsored by the embassy of Liberia in the UK was under the theme : African Ambassadors and the African Diaspora as Economic Gateways.  Over 200 Participants from Africa, Europe, the USA, the Caribbean and Asia attended the two day conference held at the Kensington Town Hall. In her welcome address, Dr Anna Vanderpuye, the Executive Director of INGO reminded participants of the enormous challenges facing the continent in terms of sustaining the economic growth the continent is currently enjoying. She said " after almost two decades of stagnation and decline, real GDP in sub-saharan Africa is now growing at an average rate of 4-5% per year. Deficits have been halved and a tremendous progress has been made. The question at hand now therefore is about how our embassies can partner the ordinary African in the Diaspora to invest and contribute to this new dispensation on the continent. She expressed her organisations appreciation to the embassy of Liberia among others for sponsoring this conference. In a goodwill message from Christian aid UK, the head of policy, Mr. Charles Abugri called on African embassies and high commissions to be more welcoming to people to visit them than they presently are today. He said "it does not benefit anyone when impediments are placed in the way of possible investors desirous of visiting the continent by our embassies". He further on reminded these embassies to ensure their websites are up to date with information to the wider world. He deplored the situation in which some information on some of these websites are so outdated possible investors and tourists get frustrated when seeking information about some these countries.

Professor Ndi Okereke- Onyiuke, the CEO of Nigeria's stock exchange, whose delegation from her stock exchange numbered over 50 persons invited Africans in the diaspora especially to invest in the continent now. "Do not wait for people without any link with Africa to once again dominate the business sector in Africa" she said.

The two day conference in a frank and interactive manner touched on how to make Africa the new China, engaging the African Diaspora, making Africa the investment and tourism destination of choice among others.