A few months ago, London First, the inward investment agency for the capital, launched a business manifesto for the incoming mayor of London.

Its full contents will be revealed at a press launch in London tomorrow.

Under the heading 'London as a world capital for business' it has as a key goal to 'engage the multi-cultural communities of London to continue to build on their strengths and thus eliminate discrimination and deprivation'.Though the projected outcome is a touch wishful, I do not think anyone can take issue with the action plan.

By this statement in a document intended as a road map for the success of London plc, the businesses in the capital have made it clear that they view the minority community as an asset to be positively engaged rather than as a liability to be tolerated.

I have no doubt that what is true of business in London is true of business in Britain.In fact for anyone to think the contrary betrays a lack of appreciation of the essential dynamics of the British economy: that this small island nation with its relatively small population punches above its weight in economic terms precisely because of its political, linguistic and commercial links with its former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia.

The British Empire may be no more, yet the dividends of colonialism continue to flow into Britain plc because of the historic cultural and trading links with the former colonies.It is not only business that has woken up to this reality.

This summer I attended a meeting called by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry.

The admitted purpose of the meeting was to explore how the minority business community could assist Britain plc to recover some of the ground that had been lost in these markets to USA Inc's aggressive marketing tactics, spearheaded by African-Americans.As we prepare to enter the new millennium, the issue is whether the legal profession has woken up to the reality that business and the government have grasped.

We in the African Caribbean and Asian Lawyers Group are not waiting around for the answer.When we started out as a group in the early '90s our ethos was self-help.

This led us to devise and initiate award-winning schemes to assist our members to secure training contracts.

For the new millennium we have resolved to add 'self-appreciation' as a new driver.

We have in the past wasted too much breath moaning about others not singing our praises instead of using that breath to sing our own songs of praise.

Though the number of African Caribbean and Asian lawyers in practice and industry remains unsatisfactory relative to the numbers pursuing law as a career, even so, the ACA has not up to now done enough to reach out to those who have scaled the high walls that enclose this our profession.We are committed to righting this wrong and, to this end, I outlined three new initiatives at our annual conference last week: to showcase and celebrate our practitioners with the ACA Annual Law Awards; to make the ACA a truly national organisation by establishing ACA branch organisations in Birmingham, Leicester, Manchester and in other major centres in the country; and to set up more practice groups along the lines of our entertainment sports and media law committee to assist our members' marketing efforts.We are particularly keen to hear from African Caribbean and Asian Lawyers practising or working outside London to help drive the proposed new regional groups.

What we ask from the firm s and companies who employ or interview ACA members is understanding.Understanding that when we meet as a group of ethnic minorities in this way, it is to celebrate what we have in common so as to build on our strengths - as London First's business manifesto enjoins us to do - rather than to concentrate on what sets us apart from you.