Macron invites Buhari to Africa-France Summit
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/05/macron-invites-buhari-to-africa-france.html
French President Emmanuel Macron has invited President Muhammadu
Buhari to the Africa-France Summit scheduled for June 2020 in Bordeaux,
France.
Secretary General, Africa-France Summit, Stephanie Rivoal, said this
when she visited the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama,
on Tuesday in Abuja.
She said that the summit with the theme “Sustainable Cities” was
aimed at helping African countries resolve the rural-urban drift among
other challenges bedevilling the continent.
According to her, Nigeria is expected to showcase its projects that
have been proven to work at the two day summit for all stakeholders
involved in development of cities.
She said it was the wish of Macron for Nigeria’s president to attend
the summit because of the importance of Nigeria in the continent.
Rivoal also said that the summit, unlike every other summit is
expected to provide concrete solutions to the challenges facing cities
in Africa.
“I will appreciate it if President Buhari will come with a delegation of people involved in city development.”
She stressed that the summit wanted to provide a forum in which
“ministers share ideas with one another on concrete solutions to
development of cities.”
“Stakeholders will be there to look at what is the best for the people that live in those cities.
“Besides, there will be concrete commitments by stakeholders and this will be followed up at the end of the summit,” she said.
According to her, issues like how to ensure access to health, water,
power and the rest will be discussed and also ways to make the rural
areas more attractive to the people so as to curb rural-urban drift.
This she said explained why the summit would be hosted in Bordeaux instead of the bigger city, Paris.
The grand finale will be a football match between the World
Champions, France, and the winners of the 2019 African Cup of Nations
taking place in Egypt in June.
Onyeama appreciated the invitation and said that Nigeria would love to be part of the summit.
The minister said it was very important for Africa to manage growth
and make the continent lively adding that it was something every society
really had to address as cities were becoming a challenge.
According to him, President Buhari is looking at how rural-urban drift can be curbed.
“The challenges in improving quality of lives; to slow down and
reverse the trend of urban-rural drift is something we are looking at
and we hope to attain.
“Building up the economy of rural cities is an excellent idea. We
have to look at how to make rural cities friendly for the people.
“I am sure that Mr President will keep the date as it is something he will consider,” the minister said.
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