British PRIME MINISTER BACKS Britain's First-Ever AFRICA OPEN DAY, 9th April 2005

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British PRIME MINISTER BACKS AFRICA OPEN DAY (9th April 2005)!!

The Prime Minister has lent his support to the UK’s forthcoming first-ever Africa Open Day taking place at Friend’s House, Euston, London.

Tony Blair, who recently declared 2005 as a year of commitment to Africa, was very encouraging of the event and said that people should be appreciative of Africa Open Day, referring to Africa as ‘vibrant’.

He also acknowledged the business and investment potential within the African continent pointing out that: “Africa Open Day is an important opportunity to demonstrate the vibrancy of Africa and the opportunities that Africa presents for business and investment.”

Africa Open Day, which takes place at Euston on the 9th April 2005, is the first of its kind and is aimed primarily at bringing together representatives from foreign missions, businesses, NGOs (and other organisations), together with the general public all under one roof.

His Excellency Hon. Amanya Mushega, the Secretary-General of the East Africa, will be the guest of honour and will be representing his organisation by delivering a historic keynote speech. African High Commissions in the UK such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have thrown their weight behind Africa Open Day, and are fully participating in pre-event arrangements. In addition, Malawi’s Ambassador to Japan, HE. J. John Chikago, is also supporting the day.

The event has been initiated by the Africa Media Centre (AMC). Speaking on the impending historical event, Mr Gakuru Macharia of the Africa Media Centre (AMC) said: “We are totally convinced that the event will provide an excellent platform for networking and the promotion of products, goods and services from various organisations. Campaigns such as Make Poverty History, Feed The World and Africa 2005 show that we need to make a lot of economic progress by ourselves. Africa is so blessed that the continent should have a very vibrant economy and positive events like Africa Open Day will make it happen at some stage. Hopefully it would not be too long from now before we eventually get there.


“In addition to African businesses being present, we also welcome ‘economic friends’ of Africa; those companies or businesses that do a lot of business with the continent. This event would be a real ‘eye-opener’ for many people who are used to hearing only the negative things about Africa. With the backing of various African governments and businesses in the UK, Africa Open Day hopes to become an annual event to pencil into ones diary.”


Much of the interest surrounding Africa Open Day has to do with both the diverse nature of companies exhibiting, some of whom have come from places as far as Japan and Europe to the quality of guests and speakers. Some of these lined up include; The Dean of Africa Union Diplomats (head of all African Diplomats); Mayor of Wandsworth (Chief Lola Ayonrinde); Africa Medical Research Foundation (Chairman Alistair Boyd); Tindo Mhando, (veteran Swahili broadcaster, BBC), BEN TV (Alistair Soyode, CEO), OBE TV (Chairman), Trumpet Newspaper (Femi Okutubo, Publisher), African Broadcasting Network (ABN) & APBF (David Kingsley & George Twumasi, Founders/Joint CEO’s).



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NOTES TO THE EDITOR

The African Media Centre is a media company that specialises in producing African based programmes on television and radio. It also has a number of publications to its credit. For further information on this visit: www.radioafrica.net www.easternafricamagazine.net

There are limited spaces left for exhibitors at the venue for the Africa Open Day so interested parties should contact the Africa Media Centre (AMC) on 020 8692 4340 or visit www.radioafrica.net www.easternafricamagazine.net

The address for Africa Open Day is Friends House, 173 Euston Road, London NW1

The day starts at 9.00am with the exhibitors setting up their stands and the doors are open to the public from 10.30am. On the main hall at 12.00 noon the lectures and entertainment will start with different organizations and personalities sharing their experiences on different African issues until 16:30pm. Another segment (more entertainment) starts at 17:30. The guests seated at the section managed by the High Commissioners will set the tone for the evening.