The chief executive officer of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation, Kevin Wakeford, made an impassioned plea to potential investors to seriously consider investing in this province.

Addressing about 300 delegates on the opening day of the three-day Nepad Council Conference on Trade and Investment, among them potential investors and academics from around the world, Wakeford told the gathering that the province was faced with many, but similar, challenges to Nepad.

"The biggest challenge facing us is poverty and we need every help we can get if we are to succeed in our endeavours to fight poverty in this province," he said.

He said the bulk of the wealth in the Eastern Cape was in the western part of the province and poverty alleviation interventions were needed mostly in the eastern part.

Wakeford said that area was so poor that most people, especially in the Alfred Nzo Municipality, were living on just under R6 a day.

Intervention was needed in the area to tackle poverty, especially around Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo, where over 1,4 million people lived in abject poverty, Wakeford said.

He also called on business in the province to unite and to join hands with the government to fight poverty.

"If we are to win this fight, integration between black and white business becomes very critical," he said.