DANIEL SIMPSON, Berlin | Friday 2.20pm.
GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder urged southern African governments on Thursday to accelerate economic reforms to unlock greater private investment from the world’s third biggest economy.
Addressing African leaders in Berlin, Schroeder said the region should not be seen as a basket case and offered German companies the potential for healthy returns.
”Individual setbacks should not distract us from seeing that southern Africa has made an encouraging development,” he told a business forum attended by two African heads of government and three heads of state.
”The economies of many countries have grown faster than their populations,” he said, while a stronger private sector, more open markets, a crackdown on crime and greater security for investments should all be major incentives for foreign firms.
Governments in the region need to speed up reform at every opportunity and work more closely together to meet the challenges of an increasingly globalised economy, he stressed. — Reuters