This Saturday and Sunday 26 and 27 September 2009 leaders from Africa and South America will meet in “Isla Margarita, Venezuela, to boost cooperation in a score of areas with potential for greater bi-regional exchange”, IPS TerraViva reports.
Africa “has linked up as a region and has sought cooperation collectively, mostly with the European Union, but in recent years also with China, India, Russia, Iran and, of course, South America, where it is finding open doors because of the new progressive governments,” Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister for Africa, Reinaldo Bolívar, told IPS.
So far “North-North and North-South summits have been held, but apart from the Summits of South American-Arab Countries in 2005 and 2009, the Africa-South America meetings are the only South-South summits taking place in the world,” Bolívar underlined.
The first Africa-South America summit was held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, in November 2006 and adopted a 45-point declaration on generally agreed principles.
The issues covered by the Abuja declaration ranged from calling for reform at the United Nations, to commitments to educate men and teenage boys about the rights of women and girls, as well as commitments by South American countries to invest in Africa and assist in agricultural development and the alleviation of hunger.
Read more > ipsnews.net (END)
More news on this summit: allafrica.com, venezuelanalysis.com, treehugger.com,
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