THE EASTERN CAPE city of East London has been selected to host the 2002 annual South African Federated Chamber of Business (Safcob) conference. The managing director of the Border-Kei Chamber of Business (BKCOB), Les Holbrook, told the Daily Dispatch newspaper that this would provide a big boost to the city. He said that BKCOB had been lobbying for the annual convention to be held here and finally "we have been able to convince them that East London can do it". The 2002 event will be far bigger due to the amalgamation of the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob) and National African Federation of Chambers of Commerce (Nafcoc) into Safcob. The last time a Sacob convention was held in the Eastern Cape was in 1995 in Port Elizabeth. The convention, from October 16 to 18 at the Regent Hotel, has been confirmed. The conference should see between 600 and 800 delegates plus some of their partners, to the city. "We not only get business people to the conference but also their businesses to exhibit, Holbrook said, adding that the event would be a good opportunity to sell the city as a centre for business and industry. "We can tell them DaimlerChrysler South Africa is happy to be here, so East London must be good for (their) business too." DaimlerChrysler South Africa chairman Christoph Köpke is Sacob president and joint president of Safcob.