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Conference Africa: 53 Countries, One Union-The New Challenges
Washington DC, 15-16 June 2011
In September 2008, Professor Romano Prodi was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to analyze the situation [2] of the African continent with regard to the great theme of peace. At the end of his appointment, the Foundation for World Wide Cooperation, of which he is chairman, organized a high-level conference on Africa, which was held in Bologna [3] in May 2010.
This year, a similar conference will be held in Washington, DC on 15 and 16 June. In addition to Professor Prodi’s Foundation, it will be organized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars [4] and the SAIS – Johns Hopkins University [5].
The aim of the conference is to establish how best to help and support the process towards the unity of the African continent; a process that would be a long and gradual one, but which is an imperative condition for a long-lasting peace. The conference will offer to senior policy makers and experts the opportunity to discuss the relevance of regional and continental integration in the solution of major African problems including those generated by recent developments which now challenge our concepts of freedom and democracy.
The attention of the conference will be focused on three most important points that could promote the unifying process, namely:
- peace, security and democracy;
- trade,
- regional and intercontinental infrastructures.
The Conference will concentrate on the roles of the United Nations, African Union, European Union and the United States and China governments. International organizations such as the World Bank, African Development Bank, World Trade Organization, and Economic Commission for Africa will also be involved.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has expressed her intention to participate in the conference, as well as President of Malawi, Bingu wa Mutharika, and other heads of African states and international organizations.
At the end of the Washington Conference, President Prodi will announce the third conference on Africa that his Foundation will organize in 2012, in Addis Ababa.
- The rationale for the Conference is that only by overcoming the present political and economic fragmentation, Africa can move ahead towards further peace, development and prosperity.
- The Conference is organized in two different panels, dedicated respectively to how integration can contribute to solve the problems related to 1) Security, peace and democracy and 2) Infrastructures and Markets.
- African political leaders, representatives of international actors such as China, the EU, the US, and officials from international organizations such as the African Development Bank, the United Nations, the World Trade Oorganization, the World Bank will participate in the discussion.
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