Increased Afro-Arab Cooperation

(Press Release)-The African Union (AU) and the League of Arab States (LAS) are meeting from the 14th to the 16th December 2007, at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to hold their Third Inter-secretariat Consultative Meeting with a view to reinforcing the cooperation ties existing between the two institutions.

The meeting will serve as a brainstorming session on the Revitalization of the Afro-Arab Cooperation as well as their bilateral relationship, in a bid to elaborate concrete activities ahead the 2008 Afro- Arab Development Forum. It will also be an opportunity to agree on a date for the Second Afro- Arab Summit.

Participants at the consultative meeting will consider and endorse the proposal for the meeting of AU/LAS high-level experts on Agriculture and Food Security 2008 and the proposal on the Afro-Arab Technical Cooperation 2008. They would also have to scrutinize the Report of the Consultant on the development of an Institutional Mechanism for Afro-Arab Strategic Studies, which redefines the role of the Afro-Arab Cultural Institute based in Bamako, Mali.

Meanwhile, the Afro-Arab Strategic Studies Centre is expected to reinforce the cultural identities of the African and the Arab States respectively as well as re-affirming their respective impact on the international arena. Furthermore, the two parties would coordinate activities geared at carrying out thematic research on Afro-Arab studies at university level, while analysing and providing recommendations to the political, economic, social and cultural development challenges in Africa and the Arab world.

The meeting will facilitate direct collaboration between the different departments of the African Union Commission and the League of Arab States.

The venue and date of the fourth Afro- Arab inter-secretariat Consultative Meeting will be decided upon during this meeting.

For more information, please consult the AU website: http://www.africa-union.org/

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