On Friday, 8 October 2021, the “Encounters with Africa” event will be held, as the third edition of the Italy-Africa Ministerial Conference, at the Sheraton Parco de’ Medici Hotel in Rome. The event will bring together delegations from 54 African countries, representatives of the African Union and other major African regional organisations, as well as a number of members of the Italian institutions and representatives of the economic, business, academic and third sector worlds.
This year, the event is part of the Italian G20 Presidency and will focus on its three pillars, “People, Planet, Prosperity”, with a link to the partnership with the United Kingdom for COP26.
On Friday 8 October, at 09:30, the Italian President, Sergio Mattarella, will open the works day, followed by speeches at the inaugural plenary session by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the USG and Executive Secretary of the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Vera Songwe, the President of the COP 26, Alok Sharma, the Chairman of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, Mario Monti, and the B20 President, Emma Marcegaglia.
After the plenary session, four interactive thematic panels (two simultaneously in the morning and two in the afternoon) will take place. These will provide participants with a forum for discussing and exchanging ideas on the questions of renewable energy, energy transition, the environment, green finance, and sustainable development. Also in the afternoon, a special round table meeting is planned, to deal with blue economy matters.
