The idea of an Africa-South America Summit (AFRAS) was put forward by President Olusegun Obasanjo during President Lula's visit to Nigeria in April 2005, and discussed again during the Nigerian leader’s visit to Brazil in September 2005. President Lula supported the proposal, recognizing its importance for the strengthening of South-South cooperation – as was achieved in the summit between South American and Arab countries in May 2005.

The proposal was approved during a summit of the South American Community of Nations in September 2005, and in January this year the African Union decided to organize the event, which will be held in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, on 29 and 30 November.

The AFRAS summit is the first meeting of its kind between the heads of state and government of the two continents. It constitutes a unique opportunity for dialogue between two regions of the developing world that together comprise 66 countries, more than a billion people (Africa, 800 million; South America, 375 million), and occupy more than 30% of the world's total land area. South America is also the region with the largest number of descendants of the African diaspora – Brazil in fact has the world’s second biggest black population, after Nigeria.

South America and Africa are neighbouring regions, connected geographically and historically by the South Atlantic. They share many strategic interests and similar worldviews. The current undertaking is that of creating the conditions for a deeper mutual understanding and greater diffusion of information, conducive to closer ties in terms of trade, investment, cooperation and the two-way movement of people.

In fact, this process has already begun. Brazil's policy of creating closer ties with Africa – expressed, since 2003, in five presidential visits to the continent (taking in seventeen countries), and the opening of twelve new embassies – has been a catalyst, contributing to a tripling of annual trade between Brazil and Africa in the last four years (from US$ 5bn in 2002 to US$ 14-15bn in 2006), with African countries' total exports to Brazil exceeding Brazilian exports to Africa. In recent years there have also been a large number of visits to Brazil by African heads of state and government, and a number of African countries have opened embassies in Brasilia.

The experience so far has been encouraging, but needs to be extended so as to incorporate entire regions. Essential elements for the sustainability of biregional integration – including air and sea connections, a sustained and growing flow of trade and investment, expanded tourism and two-way movement of people – will only be achieved on the basis of economies of scale. The South American countries have been reiterating their interest in the strengthening of ties.

The issues on the AFRAS agenda include peace and security, democracy and human rights, and the prospects for cooperation in areas such as education, agriculture, trade, energy, infrastructure, the environment, water resources and legal matters. The summit will also aim to stimulate political dialogue and the coordination of positions in multilateral forums with regard to issues such as UN reform, the Security Council and the resumption of the Doha Round of world trade negotiations.

Planning for a second AFRAS summit, to be held in Venezuela in 2009, is already underway, which demonstrates the interest governments from both regions have in securing closer relations.

Source: Ministry of External Relations