Windhoek — President Hifikepunye Pohamba leaves for Accra, Ghana, today to attend the seventh Africa Investment Forum.

The forum, with the theme 'Accelerating Intra-Africa Trade and Investment', is organised by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and Ghana Investment Promotion Centre. It brings together business and government leaders from Africa, Europe, North America and Asia to address how the private sector, international communities and governments can work together to restore high levels of growth in the face of the global economic meltdown. Pohamba will be accompanied by Foreign Affairs' Minister Marco Hausiku, Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob and Environment and Tourism Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as well as some other senior government officials. The Head of State and his delegation are expected to return on Wednesday.

Eni out of Ugandan deal

LONDON - Eni SpA has pulled out of its planned US$1,5 billion purchase of Heritage Oil Plc's Ugandan assets in what is a setback for the Italian oil group's ambitions to grow in Africa to boost flagging output. "Eni today revoked the sale and purchase agreement signed on December 18 for the acquisition of Heritage's 50 per cent share in Ugandan Blocks 1 and 3A, on which Tullow Oil has exercised its pre-emption right," an Eni spokesman said on Friday. Eni's decision reflects a surrender in the hotly contested battle for the fields, which executives say contain around 2 billion barrels of oil, and victory for explorer Tullow Oil Plc, which plans to sell the assets on to China's CNOOC Ltd.

US$100mn for Zam mine

LUSAKA - Zambia's Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), a unit of Swiss firm Glencore International AG plans to spend US$100 million to sink a new shaft and extend the mine life by 25 years, Mines Minister Maxwell said.

He said Mopani planned to develop the new shaft in order to access untapped mineral resource of about 100 million tonnes of copper bearing ore beneath the existing Nkana south ore body and the central shaft ore body in Kitwe, 330 km north of Lusaka. "The ore bodies being mined are nearing their end and the existing shaft infrastructure cannot go deeper for them to access the rich ore body. They can mine for another 25 years once they access the ore body beneath," Mwale said.

New data for Ghana

ACCRA - Ghana will by mid-year revamp the reporting of its national economic output to include activities currently excluded from official data, officials said on Friday.

However, they played down some market estimates that it could boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figure by as much as 50 per cent, stressing the move had still not been finalised. Such moves can be controversial.

The European Union blocked a 2006 bid by Greece to add 25 per cent to GDP by including activities such as prostitution, while South Africa last year was accused of underplaying the size of its illegal sector.

Kenya on oil hunt

NAIROBI - Kenya and Anadarko Petroleum Corp have signed an oil and gas exploration agreement for five offshore blocks in the east African nation's Lamu Basin, The Saturday Nation reported. "Anadarko is set to start its work programme," the paper quoted Hudson Andambi, senior superintending geologist at the Ministry of Energy, as saying.

While east Africa's biggest economy has yet to strike oil or gas, the government is confident and a recent oil discovery in Uganda raised hopes Kenya might yield similar reserves.