York Guides

Retired war veteran Gen Colin Powell - one of the key figures in his country's so-called war on terror -became the 65th secretary of state in 2001. He quit last November.

He previously served as a key aide to the secretary of defence and national security advisor to President Reagan.
He also served 35 years in the US Army, rising to the rank of four-star general and was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.

During this time he oversaw 28 crises including the Panama intervention of 1989 and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Gulf War.

In the wake of the terror attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, he stood shoulder to shoulder with President George W Bush over his declared "war on terrorism", saying: "Winning that war is our first priority and it will remain so for as long as necessary."

Keynote
He will be the keynote speaker at the tenth anniversary of Yorkshire International Business Convention at Harrogate's Yorkshire Event Centre.

Final preparations for the event were being made today .

A spokesman for the event said: "As far as we know, Colin Powell will be speaking about the qualities of leadership and what makes a good leader.

" He will also be taking questions from the audience."

About 1,500 delegates will be attending the day-long event, which will include a succession of big-name speakers including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and businesswoman Sahar Hashemi who, together with her brother Bobby, founded Coffee Republic in 1995.

Other speakers include the BBC's business editor, Jeff Randall.

The event will be opened by comedian Tom O'Connor.

Other attractions are the legendary locomotive, the Flying Scotsman, which was being brought to the event by road today from its home at York's National Railway Museum, and a replica of a Williams Formula One racing car that will be a centrepiece of a display stand for the event's main sponsor, the Royal Bank of Scotland.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it