The foreign ministers of the Nordic countries and ten African nations to meet in Espoo
Press release 10/2005
10 January, 2005
The foreign ministers of the Nordic countries and ten African nations will meet in Espoo, at Hanasaari Cultural Centre, on 13–14 January to discuss conflict prevention in Africa and partnership in order to develop democracy and good governance in Africa through both internal efforts and external support.
The unofficial meeting is part of a series of meetings held from time to time to exchange views. The previous meeting was held at the end of 2003 in Mozambique. The meeting does not publish declarations; instead, the ideas exchanged are put to use in shaping each country’s foreign policy.
The African countries invited to attend are Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. Many of the countries are among the continent’s most influential; for instance, Nigeria currently chairs the African Union and South African has mediated in several African conflicts. At the meeting, the majority of countries will be represented at the ministerial level.
From the perspective of conflict prevention, the meeting comes about at a time when African countries have, in recent years, assumed increasing responsibility for their continent’s crisis management and for mediation negotiations to prevent the escalation of conflicts. The earlier Organisation of African Unity (OAU), has evolved into the African Union, which has launched peacekeeping operations, for instance, in the Darfu region of Sudan and is planning new operations in other countries. Alongside the African Union, regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) act as security architects for Africa. These have also initiated peacekeeping operations in situations where the start of peacekeeping efforts by United Nations has been awaited in vain.
A second central theme is the New Economic Partnership for African Development (Nepad). It includes the African Peer Review Mechanism: the governance systems of countries that have joined are reviewed and improvement measures are suggested. More than twenty African states now belong to the African Peer Review Mechanism, and the first reviews – which include reviews for some of the countries that will be represented at the meeting – will be ready in early 2005. At the meeting the development of democracy and human rights on the continent will also be discussed. From the African countries’ perspective, Nepad’s partnership approach also involves increasing external support, for which the countries are devising steering strategies both within the framework of the organization and nationally.
At the meeting, globalisation management will be discussed, views about revising the United Nations will be exchanged, and other topical questions in world policy will be discussed. Jakaya Kikwete, Foreign Minister of Tanzania who will be coming to Finland for the meeting, has served together with Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja as parallel chairman of the Helsinki Process. The Helsinki Process working group reports that outline new ideas about globalisation and democracy are nearing completion, and the Helsinki Conference to be held in September 2005 is now under preparation.
Additional information: Riikka Laatu, Head of Unit, Unit for Southern Africa, Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel. +358 9 1605 6235
Information about the ministers(Link to another website.)
Helsinki Process(Link to another website.)