G8 Agenda Focuses on Africa
10/02/2009
Italy intends to focus on Africa at the G8 Summit on the island of La Maddalena. That is the message that Foreign Minister Franco Frattini delivered to Eduardo dos Santos, the President of Angola, to the Prime Minister Antonio Paulo Kassoma and to the other political leaders with whom he held talks in Luanda, Angola, today.
The Foreign Minister explained that his current tour of four African capitals must be seen also in the context of Italy's Presidency of the G8 group. The Minister explained that his is "a presence based on listening and on a dialogue among equals; certainly not on a paternalistic approach". He added that, in its capacity as G8 President, Italy intends to involve the countries of Africa in the debate on such issues as security, the environment, energy, food security and infrastructures. He then briefed the Angolan authorities on Italy's plan to organize high-level meetings devoted to development aid, agriculture and energy.
Frattini explained that he is going to personally chair the ministerial meeting devoted to development aid. This meeting, which is due to be held in Rome, will be dealing with the issues of the environment and of mass emigration "not only in a south-north direction, but also in a south-south direction within the African continent itself". Where energy is concerned, Italy plans to promote structured dialogue between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries, and Angola will of course be playing a key role due to the fact that it currently holds the OPEC chair. "If we want global ground rules for the gradual stablization of supply and demand so as to avoid speculation and the huge price variations that speculation causes," Frattini said, "then we need to call on OPEC to make a constructive contribution".
The Farnesina chief went on to illustrate the priorities at the ministerial meeting devoted to agriculture, a meeting at which African ministers will be playing an important role alongside those of Latin America and of Asia. "We will be discussing food security," Frattini explained, adding: "That, along with water, is the cornerstone of Expo 2015".
