Participants of the 19th World Economic Forum on Africa stressed the significance of Africa's leadership and implementation power in the future at the closing plenary of the exchange platform on Friday in the South African costal city of Cape Town.

Over 800 people in the fields of politics, economics and development research have taken part in the three-day discussion in a bid to seek practical solutions to foster better business practices and greater investment across the African continent.

Graham Mackay, chief executive of British SAB Miller, attached great importance to the creation of investment and the provision of infrastructure to the continent, at the closing plenary.

"Africa is less affected in the global economic crisis than the rest of the world and will not be in the forefront in economic recession. It is relatively safe as the home of investment. We are confident that our investment in Africa will produce immediate profits," said Mackay.

Maria Ramos, chief executive officer of Absa Group of South Africa, identified three points as important incentives for Africa' s future growth.

"The first thing is leadership and value," she said, adding that leadership is about the courage to implement the projects, policies and decisions that had already been made and were out there".

Ramos believed the second crucial topic is investment, especially investment in infrastructure and financial sector, urging the participants of the forum to put their heads together and grasp the opportunity brought about by the crisis.

"It is time to take charge now," Ramos added.

She termed the implementation as the last thing to emphasize in her speech.

"We have seen the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town which will be used in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. If Africa is capable of delivering the 2010 World Cup, it is also capable of building schools and clinics, Africa has the capability to build such a wonderful stadium, and it also has the strength to construct schools and social facilities," said Ramos

"We have the most unbelievable delivery capacity in our private sector, not just in South Africa but across this continent," she said.

"The only thing that stops us doing any of this is our own imagination, our own inability to actually move beyond the theory into the actual implementation."

Also at the closing plenary, Graca Machel, founder and president of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique, issued an appeal to raise the relevance and involvement of women and young people in the forum.

Machel also called for efforts to position Africa to be never marginalized and ignored in the future and have the continent's vision and voice articulated clearly.

At the same time, ring was also alarmed by Soud Ba'alawy, executive chairman of Dubai Group of the United Arab Emirates, who said protectionism inside Africa should be watched closely rather than those from outside, although the global economic crisis offered Africa an opportunity.

"Africa should not only open door to investment, but create environment beneficial for investment," said Ba'alawy.

The audience also put forward inspiring suggestions for the speakers on the future development of South Africa and the African continent as a whole, such as improving security, boosting agricultural development like Malawi, promoting the revolution in international economic talks.

As the host of the forum, newly-elected South African president Jacob Zuma called for more engagement and partnership to work out common programs on how Africa can do and seek solutions amid the global financial crisis.

Zuma has cast his eyes on the upcoming African Union summit which will be held in Libya earlier next month, saying the summit comes at the right moment. The suggestions and discussion results of the forum will be shared by the participants of the highest-level talks in the continent.

Source:Xinhua