Alexandre Rocha*
São Paulo – Heads of state from South American and African countries are going to meet on the 29th and 30th this month, in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, for the first summit meeting between the two continents. The conference will be modelled after the Summit of South American – Arab Countries, held in May last year in Brasília, the capital city of Brazil.
According to the Itamaraty (head office of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the objective of the summit is to establish a high-level dialogue between the two regions, highlighting the potentialities of each, and thus sending a political message to the rest of the world.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, all countries in both blocs are going to send representatives, and six out of twelve South American heads of state have confirmed their participation, namely the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Chile, Michele Bachelet, Bolivia, Evo Morales, Equador, Alfredo Palacio, Guiana, Bharrat Jagdeo, and Suriname, Runaldo Venetiaan.
On the African side, 40 heads of state and government should attend the summit, out of the 53 nations comprising the African Union. Members include Arab countries like Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, Sudan, Djibouti, the Comoros and Somalia. Only Morocco does not belong to the organization.
In seeking to strengthen South-South dialogue, the heads of state and diplomats should discuss issues such as cooperation for economic development, infrastructure, transportation, environment, water resource management, biofuels, cultural and educational exchange, as well as issues concerning the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN). The idea is to attain a better articulation between these entities.
As occurred in the case of the summit in Brazil, according to the Itamaraty, after identifying possible areas for cooperation between the two blocs, thematic meetings will be held with the objective of promoting concrete actions. In the days preceding the summit, meetings will be held between high officials and ministers of Foreign Relations from the participating countries.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
