26 May 2006

With World Cup 2006 about to kick off, the International Marketing Council of South Africa (IMC) has called on Africans to support the continent's five contenders - and to rally behind South Africa's preparations for 2010, when football's global showpiece will come to Africa for the first time.

South Africa's hosting of the 2010 Fifa Football World Cup is expected to buoy not only SA's economy, but the economies of its southern African neighbours as well.

Noting this, the IMC says it is important that the continent, which celebrated Africa Day on Thursday, rallies behind SA's preparations for 2010.

The IMC said in a statement on Thursday that it plans to "vigorously" market South Africa to the rest of the world in the build-up to 2010. "But we are fully aware that while 2010 may be hosted by us, it is essentially an African event."

At the same time, with only a few weeks left before the 2006 World Cup kicks off in Germany, the IMC urged the continent's people to support Africa's 2006 contenders: Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Tunisia.

Africa Day marks the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The OAU was replaced by the African Union (AU) in 2001.

The AU, through its socio-economic development blueprint, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), and institutions such as the African Peer Review Mechanism and Pan African Parliament, is working to address the problems facing Africa - with the ultimate objective of making the 21st century an "African century".

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has predicted that Africa's economic grow will reach 5.8% in 2006 - up from 5% in 2005.

SouthAfrica.info reporter

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2010 Fifa World Cup SA - South Africa has hosted numerous major international events - but the Football World Cup is in a class of its own. Come June 2010, the eyes of millions of visitors and billions of TV viewers will be focused on the southern tip of Africa. We don't aim to disappoint.

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