Outreach Africa and African Union Delegations Visit L'Aquila
05/06/2009
Ahead of the G8 Summit, a sizable group of delegations from African countries visited the Guardia di Finanza Non-Commissioned Officers' School in Coppito, where the Summit is to be held in July, today. Algeria, whose delegation was led by Ambassador to Italy Rachid Marif, Angola, with Embassy Counsellor Carlos Alberto Amaral leading the team, Nigeria and Senegal, represented by Minister E. D. Osunmakinde and Embassy Counsellor Minister M. Sambe respectively, will be attending the G8 Summit in an Outreach Africa capacity.
Embassy Counsellor Minister Abebe Kelemu represented Ethiopia, which has been invited to the Summit in its capacity as duty President of NEPAD. Also involved in the tour of inspection were representatives of Libya, which currently holds the African Union duty Presidency, and of the African Union Commission, in the persons of Abudlhafed Gaddur, Libya's ambassador to Italy, and of Simone Abala, the AU Commission's Head of Ceremonial.
In accordance with the now tried and tested agenda for foreign delegations' preparatory visits, the day began with a traditional explanatory briefing to illustrate the Summit venue and the overall organization of the event, followed by an inspection of the areas where the meetings are to be held and where delegates and Heads of State and Government Leaders are to be housed. After completing their inspection, the teams attended working sessions with their opposite numbers in the G8 mission structure to take a closer look at some of the more detailed organizational aspects of the Summit.
Delegations from Australia, South Korea and Denmark are due to visit L'Aquila on Monday 8 June.
