Third conference of African trade ministers in Cairo today

Yussef Botrus Ghali, the Egyptian minister of the economy and foreign trade, is opening today works of the third conference of the African trade ministers which Egypt organizes in association with the Organization of African Unity.

These works will last for 5 days with the participation of the trade ministers of 20 African countries including the COMESA countries trade ministers.

The conference is to discuss the problems of poverty, debt, unemployment and the deteriorated economic position in the African continent in the age of the European economic bloc.

The conference will also tackle the intensive meetings that were held among the ministers in in Zimbabwe in 1998 and the negotiations concerning the new cooperation agreement among Africa's group countries, the Caribbean Sea, the Indian ocean and the European Union.

The Egyptian minister said that 'a preparatory meeting for the meeting coming on the experts' level is to be held on margin of the conference on coming Tuesday and Wednesday.