The Africa Union Sunmit of January 2006 held in Khartoum, Sudan, endorsed South Africa as the host of the African Diaspora Summit to be held during the first quarter of 2008. This includes the preceding Ministerial Conference, Senior Officials Meeting, a National Consultative Conference and an AU Consultative Conference. Pursuant to this decision, Paris, United Kingdom, Latin America, North America and the Caribbean have been designated as the nodal points that would host Regional Consultative Conferences in preparation for the aforesaid Summit.
Following extensive discussions, it was decided that the Africa – African Diaspora in Europe Consultative Conference will be held in Paris on 11 – 12 September 2007.
The purpose of the 2008 Summit in South Africa will be to create sustainable partnerships between the African Diaspora and the continent through a realizable programme of action and creating sustainable dialogue, partnerships and strengthening Pan-Africim Solidarity for a better Africa and its Diaspora;
The principal partners in the organisation of the Summit are the African Union Commission and the South African Government. Participants will include ministers, parliamentarians, business people, academics, civil society and NGOs from the various African Union regions of the Diaspora.
In Paris, the event will involve the co-operation of South African Embassies based in the European Union, with the exception of London, which is a separate nodal point.
In order to assist and support the endeavours of the South African Government and specifically the South African Embassies in Paris and Sweden, organisations representing the African Diaspora in Sweden are kindly requested to urgently identify a maximum of two representatives to discuss how the Africa Diaspora in Sweden can contribute to theprocess. The intention is for the South African Embassy to host such meeting and obtain inputs from as many representatives of the major African Diaspora groups in Sweden.
The meeting will be held in Stockholm on 3 August 2007. The venue and exact time will be made known.
We would thus appreciate if the names and detail of the representatives could be supplied as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
SR MAKGETLA AMBASSADOR
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