The 6th edition of the Africities Summit has been officially launched this Tuesday 4 December in Dakar. More than 5000 participants are expected until the 8th of December to this great continental and global event, organized by UCLG Africa.
Following Abidjan, Windhoek, Yaounde, Nairobi and Marrakech, the Senegalese capital has the honor to host the sixth summit of the African cities under the subject “Building Africa from its territories: What challenges for the local governments”. Participants are then called to examine the impact of the dynamic of urbanization, globalization and democratization with her corollary the decentralization, on the reorganization of the settlement and development of the continent, and her inscription in the world of today and tomorrow. The favored prospect is to approach the challenges of the development and the governance of the continent with the aim to contribute to the emergence of Africa of the People, beyond and across Africa of the States, a sine qua non condition of the successful inscription of Africa in the world.
The participants represent all the protagonists of the African local life and their partners from other regions of the world: ministers in charge for the local governments, of sustainable development and of employment; local authorities and elected officials; central and local administrations representatives; civil society organizations, professional associations and trade unions; economic operators of the public and private sectors, and of the social economy; traditional and moral authorities; researchers and academics; international cooperation agencies.
The Summit programme comprises three parts : the thematic sessions during which the theme of the Summit is analyzed and discussed (December 4th and 5th) ; special sessions organized at the request of institutions, agencies or networks wishing to work with local governments of Africa (December 6th) ; the last two days are planned for political meetings (December 7th and 8th).
The whole week long, the International Exhibition of cities and local governments of Africa (Africities Exhibition) contiguous to the space of the conference offers the opportunity to public and private sector companies, public and private institutions, to civil society and international solidarity organizations, as well as to local governments and their associations to showcase their products, tools, methods and experiments at the service of local communities and populations. The Africities Business Exhibition hosts between 200 exhibitors.
Greatest names of written and audiovisual press are also expected to cover one of the greatest events of the African continent. Local, Continental and European televisions; radio stations; Arabic English and French speaking written press will broadcast debates to a global audience during these five days.
Eventually, thanks to an unprecedented online communication scheduled by the organizers, you can keep up with the news of the summit and watch live broadcast of the big moment of Africities:
· Official Website of Africities 6
· Website of the International Exhibition of cities and local governments of Africa
· The fringe news on the Africites Blog
· Stay connected on the official social networks of Africities:
The Africities Political Commission met on 18 December 2013 in Brazzaville at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Congo.