G20 foreign ministers meeting will discuss ways to fight poverty in Africa, strengthen governmental institutions and better utilise the potential of many African countries.
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Wednesday that Germany was keen to improve conditions in Africa and halt a growing stream of economic refugees fleeing to Europe.
He said this has made cooperation with Africa a centrepiece of its presidency of the Group of 20 largest industrialised countries.
The European Union is also taking steps to stem immigration from Africa.
This is set to rise after 181,000 people arrived in 2016 and an estimated 4,500 believed to have died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea, often in flimsy boats.
“Foreign policy is and must be more than crisis management,” said in a statement before the meeting.
“We are well advised not to continually be running from one fire to another with a fire extinguisher,’’ Gabriel said.
Anthony Maruping, economics commissioner for the African Union, will participate in the meeting.
The meeting will also address implementation of the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development agreed by all UN members in September 2015.
Ministers will also discuss the war in Syria, violence in eastern Ukraine and other global crises during the G20 meeting and bilateral meetings on the sidelines.
Gabriel said it was important for the G20 countries, which account for about four-fifths of the world’s gross domestic product, to focus on combating the root causes of conflicts and preventing crises before they gathered steam.
New U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will be at the meeting with his counterparts from Russia, China and other G20 countries.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and foreign ministers from the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain and Vietnam will also participate.
(Source: Reuters/NAN)