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Due to Tuesday’s attacks on New York and Washington, DC, the US-Africa Business Summit has been rescheduled for 30 October - 2 November at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) announced Wednesday. According to CCA, the summit will be the largest gathering of African government and business leaders ever to convene in the US outside the UN. The summit was originally to take place in Philadelphia on 16 - 20 September, with DRC President Joseph Kabila and President Denis Sassou-Nguesso from neighbouring Republic of Congo (ROC) heading the roster of confirmed participants that also included over 1400 delegates from all 53 African nations. “Our nation and the world need time to mourn,” said CCA President Stephen Hayes, “and many attendees would have encountered considerable travel and other logistical difficulties. We therefore believe that all participants in the US-Africa Business Summit will be better served by this postponement.”
Optimism about US-African trade has followed ratification of the African
Growth and Opportunity Act that, since October 2000, has given 34
sub-Saharan African nations improved access to the US market and
encourages multinational corporations to invest in Africa. “Africa
represents one of the greatest market opportunities still untested by US
business,” Hayes said. Keynotes and workshops of the summit will focus on
focus on topics such as conflict resolution, health care/HIV,
environment/sustainable development, agribusiness, biotechnology, mining,
telecommunications/information technology, energy/oil and gas, utilities, trade and investment promotion, banking/financial services, and transportation.
For further information, go to http://www.africacncl.org
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