BDFM Online
Friday, December 01, 2006
ABUJA - Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo appealed for unity between Africa and South America in his welcoming address to leaders from the two continents.
Obasanjo said in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, yesterday at the first ever Africa-South America summit that both continents shared a history of colonisation and exploitation and faced similar challenges.
The leaders signed a nine-point declaration seeking to promote co-operation in various areas, including energy, banking, democracy, poverty reduction and education. They also agreed to meet every two years. The leaders were also expected to sign a declaration calling for a rapid resumption of, and swift conclusion to, the Doha Round of world trade talks.
Recently re-elected Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva attended the Abuja gathering but fewer than half the invited leaders showed up.
"The main challenge is to lay the groundwork for a new paradigm in south-south co-operation," Lula said.
The meeting aimed to further south-south co-operation.
Among those at the meeting were African Union commission president Alpha Oumar Koare, Bolivian leader Evo Morales, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Mozambique's Armando Guebuza and Togo's Faure Gnassingbe.
Alfredo Palacio, outgoing president of Ecuador, Ronald Venetiaan of Surinam and Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana all arrived in the Nigerian capital on Wednesday.
Gaddafi, who was one of four leaders opening the summit, said it was important to make concrete progress to avoid the event being seen as a jamboree.
He stressed the need for co-operation on defence and suggested the two continents set up their version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Gaddafi used the opportunity to call on Venezuelans to vote for President Hugo Chavez in Sunday's election, which the left-wing firebrand is favourite to win. Sapa-AFP