SHANGHAI, Oct 18: Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday urged US business leaders to continue investing abroad and not to fall victim to terrorism fears following last month’s attacks in the United States.

Powell, speaking to a group of leading US investors in China here on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, said the attacks in New York and Washington could result in unintended opportunities.

“In this tragedy, there are also opportunities and we are going to make the best of those opportunities,” Powell said.

“We will come back from this, we will prevail and we can’t let this kind of activity hold us back or hold us down,” he said. “We’re better than that, we’re stronger than that, we have spines of steel.”

But for the US and global economies to recover from the shock of the attacks, Powell said American investors needed to keep their world outlook.

“You have to do your job,” he told the business leaders. “We have to restore confidence in our economy, we have to make sure people understand that they have to get on with life.

“It is so important for you to keep doing what you are doing: keep investing, keep opening up avenues of opportunity for increased trade (and) destroying barriers,” Powell said.

The secretary quipped that the global coalition the United States is marshalling to fight terrorism had also largely ended criticism that President George W. Bush is pursuing an “America-first,” isolationist policy.

“Nobody is calling us unilateral anymore, that’s kind of gone away for the time being.” Powell said, referring to Washington’s diplomatic drive to create and sustain the unprecedented coalition.

“We’re so multilateral, it keeps me up 24 hours a day.”—AFP