Sierra Leone appeals for investment

LONDON – Sierra Leone appealed yesterday for increased foreign investment, portraying itself as a country fast recovering from a brutal civil war, in a trade forum backed by former British premier Tony Blair.

President Ernest Bai Koroma told hundreds of delegates in London that such a conference would have been ‘a pipe dream’ a decade ago.But just seven years after the end of a conflict that cost 120 000 lives as rebel factions fought for control of the country’s diamond mines, Sierra Leone is ripe for investment and and developing at rapid rate, Koroma said.’Sierra Leone is a country of genuine opportunity for investors and for its people,’ he told the audience of bankers and business chiefs.He said: ‘We are becoming a stable, politically mature nation. We have had two internationally recognised democratic elections, including a peaceful transition of power.’It has extensive mineral resources, including massive deposits of iron ore, a natural deep water harbour, and its under-fished seas are teaming with tuna and marlin.Agriculture represents 45 per cent of its gross domestic product, but investment in the sector is desperately required to exploit crops of cocoa, coffee and palm oil and sugar.Blair, whose Africa Governance Initiative has been working with Koroma and his government for over a year, said before the meeting: ‘Investors are now prepared to think differently about Africa and there are a new generation of leaders who are rising to this challenge.’He said that since first meeting Koroma in 2007, ‘each subsequent meeting has made me more confident that, despite many challenges, Sierra Leone has significant, unrealised potential and is open for business and investment.’William Fitzgerald, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, said Washington was backing Koroma’s efforts because his government had ‘made impressive strides creating the stability and investment environment required to achieve long-term economic growth.’ – Nampa-AFP