Washington, D.C. — Panelists to Join Other Global Leaders from American and African Public and Private Sectors for First U.S.-Africa Business Summit in Africa
Dr. Richard V. Tolbert , Chairman of Liberia's National Investment Commission (NIC); Hon. Bah Fatoumata Nene Sy, Mali's Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, Joel Strickland, President of Buchanan Renewable Energies; John Russell, Director of New Projects of Africa's leading sugar producer, Ilovo Sugar; and Dr. Mima Nedelcovych, Executive Vice President of Buchanan Renewable Energies and Partner of Schaffer Global Group will serve as featured speakers to discuss the topic during the "Renewable Energy: Converting Bio-Mass and Agri-Fuels" workshop Thursday, November 15th at The Corporate Council on Africa's (CCA) 2007 U.S.-Africa Business Summit, it was announced today.
Interested participants can pre-register for the Summit at www.africacncl.org through November 7th.
Panelists, Tolbert, Bah, Strickland, and Russell will discuss profitable renewable energy investments and projects in Liberia and Mali and the link to capital markets that make the investments possible. As moderator, Nedelcovych, an expert in developing world project finance and structuring PPPs, will lead the discussion.
The workshop is being sponsored by Buchanan Renewable Energies.
"Africa is at the frontier of the rapidly emerging bio-mass and agri-fuels industry," said CCA President STEPHEN HAYES. "We are pleased to welcome a group of panelists who are on the cutting-edge of an industry that continues to gain momentum and importance at this year's Summit."
Hosted every two years, this is CCA's sixth Summit, but the first-ever to be held in Africa. More than 1,000 participants are expected to attend.
Appropriately titled "Africa: Entering the Door to Opportunities," the Summit will provide a forum for some of the world's top global business leaders to discuss trade and investment opportunities in Africa, best practices, and how best to increase trade and investment in ways that will help engender sustainable growth on the continent.
The 2007 Summit will feature business trade missions led by a diverse pool of U.S. organizations, to nearly 30 African nations. In an unprecedented offering, Summit delegates will have an opportunity to explore business prospects in an additional African country, immediately following the Summit in Cape Town.
The U.S.-Africa Business Summit will include sector-specific plenary sessions, workshops, business networking opportunities, and a two-day trade expo where businesses will showcase their products, services, and capabilities to potential buyers and customers throughout Africa. Sessions will focus on key sectors including, infrastructure development, mining, agribusiness, telecommunications, energy, transportation, and sports and tourism among numerous others.
To date, corporations including Chevron, Merck, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, The Boeing Company, 3M, Cargill, General Motors, Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard-SA, Coca-Cola Africa, Johnson & Johnson, Development Bank of Southern Africa, and Lazare Kaplan International, JR Boulle, Oracle South Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development, South African Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, HRDI, Merck, Hess Corporation, African Wildlife Foundation, Buchanan Renewable Energies Inc., African Development Bank, Carana Corporation, Government of Mauritius, Baker Hostetler, OPIC, Commercial Services, Westinghouse; as well as media outlets including Reuters Africa, All Africa Global Media, Africa Investor, New African, African Business, Corporate Africa, Institutional Investor, The Africa Report, and Jeune Afrique have come together as sponsors of the upcoming Summit.
CCA's U.S.-Africa Business Summits have a stellar track record of attendees and high-powered workshop and plenary sessions. Former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, President George W. Bush, South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, and many other African Heads of State have participated in past Summits.
To find out more about the upcoming Summit, visit www.africacncl.org.
CCA, established in 1993, is a nonpartisan 501 (c) (3) membership organization of nearly 200 U.S. companies dedicated to strengthening the commercial relationship between the U.S. and Africa. CCA members represent nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa. The organization is dedicated to bringing together potential business partners and to showcase business opportunities on the continent.
