21-23 May 2007, Berlin : This year’s German World Bank Forum (WBF) in Berlin on 21 and 22 May is one of a series of events linked to the Africa agenda of the German twin presidencies of the EU and G8. The focus of this event organised by the World Bank and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is on the topic "Sustainable Investment in Africa". Federal Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz have invited high-level government representatives from Africa to the Forum in order to discuss with numerous multiplicators from German politics, business and civil society how German companies and organisations can support sustainable development on the African continent by intensifying their involvement.

Africa Partnership Forum

From 22 to 23 May 2007, the eighth gathering of the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) will take place in Berlin. The participants are the Personal Representatives for the G8 Africa process from the G8 countries, the OECD and the reform-oriented African countries who are involved in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) initiative. The aim of the forum is dialogue on strategic, political and socio-economic issues relating to African development and the implementation of NEPAD’s programmes.

This year’s meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum is to elaborate recommendations for the preparations for the G8 and African Union summits. It carries on from the Africa Action Plan that was jointly elaborated in Kananaskis in 2002. The eighth meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum will deal, inter alia, with the following topics : investment, gender, peace and security, climate change and the status of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen will open the Forum. Source : World Bank, may 2007