Cairo Summit carries hopes for Africa
Regional, Politics, 4/4/2000

Chadian Foreign Minister Mahamat Saleh Annadif told MENA on Tuesday that Africa-Europe summit to open today Monday acquires special importance as it carries new hopes for Africa in the face of the problems hindering its march.

He voiced hope that the summit would come out with positive results and a mechanism to put the summit's results into effect for the good of all African countries.

"Africa could be the future of the global world especially after the recent oil discoveries" , he said.

Togolese Foreign Minister Koffi Panou expressed hope the summit would lead to a true partnership between the two sides similar to the one between Europe, and Latin American and Europe and the pacific states.

"The summit will help Africa confront the globalization challenges and merge into a world economy order," he said.

The summit will likewise give top priority to the development issue, he said spelling out his country's full and strong support for President Hosni Mubarak's initiative aiming at rendering the Middle East and Africa free from all kinds of weapons of mass destruction.

The Togolese official called for quickly putting this initiative into effect.

The Foreign Minister of Cote d'Ivoire on his part, paid tribute to President Mubarak's African issues.

Cote d'Ivoire President, who will take part in the Cairo summit, will seize this opportunity and meet with President Mubarak on different issues, he added.

The Foreign Minister accentuated the importance of cooperation among African regional organizations to help realize the dream of setting up an African unity by the year 2007 under Abuja agreement.

Egypt's admission to the common market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has stepped up the weight of this gathering, he added.

He spoke appreciatively of Egypt's assistance to Cote d'Ivoire through the Egyptian fund for technical cooperation with Africa.

The Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso described as "very important" the Africa-Europe summit, to open on Monday and run for two days.

This is the first summit of its kind to be held under the cosponsorship of the EU and the OAU, he told MENA.

Speaking to MENA on the fringe of the foreign ministers meeting, he noted that both Europe and Africa are linked with strong relations hoping that this summit would be a step forward on the road of stronger cooperation between the two continents.

The Minister warned that poverty represents the most important issues facing the African continent.

He maintained that 50 percent of Africans do not go to schools and the continent is suffering from sharp shortage in drinking water.

On Europe's readiness to cooperate with Africa, he said the EU showed great response to extending help but first some pending problems should be first addressed.

On democracy in Africa, he said democracy is a natural right not only for African peoples but for all world states.

"Africa-Europe Summit is a very important event," said south African Foreign Minister Dalmini Zuma in statements Sunday.

"The summit is a chance to lay down new bases for cooperation especially as far as trade and debts are concerned," said Zuma.

She added that south Africa and Algeria underlined, during the extraordinary summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) held in Sirte, the need to hold more talks with the Europeans on debts.

The issue of debts is an urgent and thorny one that impedes development and causes serious social problems, said the top south African diplomat.

Zuma pointed out that eliminating poverty should run parallel to efforts aiming at solving the issue of debts because development in African countries would never be realized while allocating most of their revenues for debts serving, an official statement said.

Previous Stories:
  German Foreign Minister: Cairo summit is a chance to focus on African problems   (4/3/2000)
  Five main issues in declaring African - European summit   (4/3/2000)
  African - European meeting to look into Africa's debt shortly   (4/3/2000)

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