The Third ASA Summit begins
20 de febrero de 2013

The summit begins this morning with the Senior Officials Meeting of the member countries, which will be the precursor to the Meeting of Ministers and of the Plenary Session of the Heads of State and Government to be held on Thursday, February 21.

Taken from Equatorial Guinea Foreign Ministery Website

Malabo, February 20- Today, Wednesday, February 20, in the city of Sipopo (Equatorial Guinea), the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government of Africa-South America (ASA) commences, which has as one of its main objectives to strengthen South-South cooperation.

The summit begins this morning with the Senior Officials Meeting of the member countries, which will be the precursor to the Meeting of Ministers and of the Plenary Session of the Heads of State and Government to be held on Thursday, February 21.

Nearly thirty top officials have confirmed their participation, including the presidents of Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Congo, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Swaziland, South Africa, Sudan, or the King of Suriname.

In the Malabo summit they will work on projects focused on the areas of energy, transportation, science, tourism, infrastructures, technology, commerce, mining, investment and security, among others.

There are also scheduled a series of cultural activities to raise awareness of the culture of the countries members of ASA and the organization of a business forum to promote trade among the over fifty members of the association.

The Malabo summit has had as precedents those of Abuja (Nigeria) in 2006, and Margarita Island (Venezuela) in 2009.