Dakar - Angolan head of State João Lourenço continues Monday, 24, his visiting programme in Senegal, where he participates as a special guest in the eighth edition of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa.
The Angolan head of State has been in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, since Sunday, 23rd, at the invitation of his host counterpart Macky Sall.
The first day was marked by his award with the National Order of the Lion, the highest distinction of the Senegalese State for a foreign head of State.
João Lourenço thanked the gesture, on his behalf and that of the Angolan people, underlining the good relations of cooperation and friendship existing between the countries.
The eighth Dakar International Forum, held on 24-25 October, at the Diamnadio International Conference Center (CICAD), has as its motto “Africa in the face of exogenous impacts: challenges of stability and sovereignty”,
The event will bring together various heads of State and government, representatives of international and non-governmental organisations as well as think tanks to discuss various issues related to peace and security on the African continent.
Two plenary sessions and several workshops are planned on topics such as Africa's strategic empowerment in the field of security, the continent's security sector reform, the capabilities of the armed forces and the expansion of violent extremism, among others.
According to its organisers, the initiative aims to identify and propose “realistic solutions” to the promotion, in the long and medium term, of the strategic autonomy of the African Union (AU) and the continent's regional organisations in terms of security.
The meeting will also serve to come up with “realistic responses” to the challenges of the capabilities of the national armed forces, as part of the security sector reform and new African economic and political models ahead of the new global geopolitics capable of adapting and absorbing exogenous impacts in a different sustainable way.
As part of his participation in the meeting, João Lourenço is expected to address a high-level panel to present his vision and perspective as president of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on how to achieve stability on the continent and fight against terrorism, in southern Africa.
The panel will include counterparts from Cabo Verde José Maria Neves and Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo.
Also attending the panel the president of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat and representatives of the French and Japanese governments. These two as historic partners of the Dakar Forum.
The Dakar Forum was launched in 2013 at the initiative of the governments of France and Senegal. The event is held annually since 2014 with the last edition organised in 2021, after the cancellation of the previous year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several public and private partners participate in its organisation, including institutional entities from France, Japan and China.
