If you are an Africa-hand (government or non-governmental) activist or development partner focused on Africa you are either directly or indirectly involved with the upcoming Washington, D.C. August 4-6, 2014, US-Africa Leaders' Summit. Fundamentally, the event is incredibly historic as it will be the first time that a sitting U.S. President has invited all the Heads of States and Governments of the Africa Region to a single event, with the exceptions of (Zimbabwe, Central Africa Republic, Eritrea, and Western Sahara), to discuss key Continent issues and the macro U.S.-Africa relationship. The four overarching themes for the Summit are: Investing in Africa's Future; Peace and Regional Stability, and Governing for the "Next Generation."
There is some griping, of course, about some aspects of the Summit, but overall the event is a step in the right direction for the United States, even if some parts of the program rankles both Africa-hands and activists on both sides of the Atlantic and bothers many African Presidents. They are all pondering the single most asked question: Why are there no individual heads-of-state meetings with the 50Leaders attending? China, France, Japan, India all have gotten this right holding one-on-one meetings even if they last a few minutes. So the U.S. approach to not doing this does bother many. But this article is not arguing for individual meetings.
However, here is a new thought or one possibly considered but dismissed: How could having five sub-regional meetings - ...
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