Mahitab Mekkawi, Cairo, Egypt
After holding in the last few years a series of African summits with a number of world powers such as Europe, France, China and India, here comes Japan.
The Japanese city of Yokohama will host from 28-30 May 2008 the fourth Afro-Japanese summit. This important event will be attended by representatives from Japan, 53 African nations, international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank as well as a number of non-governmental organizations (NGO's).
The three-day conference will discuss important issues:
-Enhancing economic development in Africa through benefiting from its different resources.
-Means of achieving the Millenniums Development Goals (MDG's) in the continent.
-Benefiting from the Asian experience in development especially in the fields of industry – investments and trade.
-Means of achieving peace, security and stability.
-Issues concerning democracy, good governance, climate change and the current international food crisis.
Four documents will come out of this event which started for the first time in the year 1993:
-Yokohama Declaration.
-Plan of Action (PoA).
-Follow-up mechanisms.
-Summit results.
It is worth noting that Egypt's delegation to the summit will be headed by the foreign minister, Mr. Ahmed Abul Gheit.
