President Kabbah Receives UK Trade Mission
By Yusuf Alghali

Following up on last September's trade mission to Freetown undertaken by the British-based Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, another delegation of UK trade and investment consultants are currently in Freetown to lay the foundations for possible business ventures in Sierra Leone.

Led by Douglas Kerr, Director of the British Consultants and Construction Bureau (BCCB), the trade mission covers a broad number of sectors, including engineering and environmental consultancies, industrial and privatisation expertise, air and sea freight industries, procurement reforms as well as investment promotion advisory services.

Speaking during a courtesy call on President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah at his Lodge Thursday, British High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Dr. John Mitchiner, who accompanied the group said apart from the possible business opportunities they might undertake, the visiting mission would also help spread the message that " the war was over in Sierra Leone and things have moved on after the war and Sierra Leone is now open for business".

Welcoming the visitors, President Kabbah lauded Britain's historic ties and decades of fruitful bilateral cooperation with Sierra Leone, with particular reference to its robust assistance rendered to Sierra Leone during her time of crisis.

However, the President encouraged members of the trade mission to first start with investment initiatives in Sierra Leone, pointing out that such would send out a clearer message and motivate other British businesses to come and benefit from the country's competitive labour and other opportunities.

He assured them of his government's open-door policy, free enterprise environment and an investment-friendly atmosphere for every genuine business entrepreneur to operate and further assured them that there would be effective mechanisms in place to 'bulldoze' any obstacle or roadblock that would otherwise stand in their way.