EU Cos Should Increase Investments In Africa-Officials
- By George Mwangi Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NAIROBI -(Dow Jones)- European Union companies should increase investments in Africa to take advantage of the huge opportunities that currently exist on the continent, African Union deputy chairperson Erastus Mwencha said Monday. "The continent offers impressive returns on investment and immense opportunities exist in areas such as agro-pressing, industrial production, construction and service sector," Mwencha said at the opening of the third E.U.-Africa business forum in Nairobi. "Infrastructure and energy are of paramount importance and feature prominently on Africa's development agenda. In view of the current capacity constraints in these areas, huge opportunities exist for joint ventures," he said. To upgrade infrastructure to world class standards would need annual investment levels of up to $50 billion. Stefano Manservisi, director general for development of the European Commission told Dow Jones Newswires that investors are coming from South America and the emerging economies to invest in East Africa as well as elsewhere in Africa. "I think European companies should also look at that in order to also understand how this is achieved," Manservisi said. "Of course also this requires fair competition and I think it is largely the task of regional and national authorities to create conditions for everybody to do business in a fair way," he said. Manservisi declined to comment on criticism of China for investing in Africa without considering democracy and good governance. "We are not here to judge whether other companies or investors are investing. We see with interest that other companies are investing in Africa which means that Africa has not only potentiality but also assurity." -By George Mwangi; contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; +254 735 781 853; gmwangi0@gmail.com Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=T8ZKY07wPDWtrJ1DMHaoMw%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.
