africatodayonline.blogspot.com -
JOHANNESBURG, March 31 (Bernama) -- South Africa will send a ministerial delegation to the Africa-European Union (EU) Summit to be held in Belgium from April 2 to 3, the South African government said Monday.
The delegation includes International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, China's Xinhua news agency reported.
"The Summit will afford Africa and Europe the opportunity to further strengthen political and socioeconomic cooperation between the two continents," the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said in a statement.
Although it was largely expected that President Jacob Zuma would attend the summit, Zuma on Sunday voiced support for the African Union's (AU) call to boycott the summit at the presidential level after the AU accused the EU of attempting to determine the composition of the African delegation.
Other African leaders who are boycotting the summit include Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, whose wife Grace Mugabe was denied a visa to travel with him as they both are still on the EU sanctions list.
International Relations Minister Nkoana-Mashabane is expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit with her counterparts from various countries.
Leaders from the two continents will undertake a stocktaking of achievements over the past three years as guided by the Africa-EU Action Plan 2010-2013 which was adopted at the 3rd Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli, Libya in 2010.
The summit will also address issues concerning the financing of priority projects aimed at meeting the developmental challenges of Africa.
-- BERNAMA
