The African investors claimed a bigger share of foreign investments in Africa, to reach around 31 percent, said the director of COMESA Regional Investment Agency. In her keynote remarks at the African international business forum kicked off in Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh on Saturday, Heba Salama further said that investments in the African continent soared to $128 billion in 2015. Africa has become a key business centre for the world, Salama added. Investments in Africa are expected to record $2.4 trillion in 2016, said COMESA official. Egypt is hosting between 20th and 21st February Africa 2016, the first international business and investment forum of its kind, an Africa to Africa investment forum aimed at strengthening business ties within Africa, both at a business and presidential level. "It gives me a great honour and pleasure to host Africa 2016 Forum," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a welcome message posted on the business forum's official website. "It's a landmark platform that will bring together a wide range of the foremost political and business leaders in Africa and across the world to discuss ways of enhancing pan African international trade and investment and promoting business climate with a major focus on the role of the private sector." Some 1,500 delegates from Africa and the world are expected to attend, with a focus on the energy, ICT, financial services, trade, agribusiness, and health care and pharmaceuticals sectors. Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari and Sudan's Omar al-Bashir are among the African presidents who will attend the international business forum. Last June, in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, three African regional economic communities, COMESA, SADC and the EAC signed a tripartite agreement creating the biggest free trade area on the continent. The Africa 2016 Forum aims to reflect on the African opportunity as well as putting to practice the African integration story. The Forum was initiated, and is spearheaded, by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD), the development arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Earlier Salama said: "The aim of the Forum, as well as discussing some of the most pressing issues in Africa today, is to encourage as much B2B interaction. We know that Africa offers the highest rate of return of any region in the world. However, too often, the African private sector is not taking advantage of this opportunity outside of their borders. We aim to change this."
