The idea and the goals of the 2013 Budapest Africa Forum
The goal of the 2013 Budapest Africa Forum is to map the opportunities of cooperation that create mutual benefits for both Hungary and our African partners. Hungary feels the necessity to introduce Hungary’s concept of global opening to our partners and make it clear that Hungary is convinced that in our globalized world the goals of Hungarian foreign policy can be achieved only by building on strong cooperation. In this spirit, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – apart from government officials – will invite representatives of the private and civil sectors as well.
The 2013 Budapest Africa Forum builds on the conclusions of the first Sub-Saharan African Stakeholder Conference organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2012. The objective of the event was to channel the views of the representatives of Hungarian governmental, business and non-profit sectors on the way forward in strengthening our relations with Africa, particularily with Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Africa Forum shall:
• Demonstrate Hungary’s intensified attention towards Africa
• Introduce the opportunities stemming from stronger cooperation in every aspects of our relations
• Deepen the cooperation of our ministries of foreign affairs
• Designate the paths of future development
• Create an opportunity to demonstrate our common will to fight global challenges.
The logistics of the Forum
The 2013 Budapest Africa Forum will take place on June 6-7, 2013. The central event of the Forum is the plenary session organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary.
The central event is supported by three side events:
• Hungarian-African Economic Forum
• Hungarian-African Scientific Forum
• Hungarian-African Cyber Security Forum
Alongside these official events, we plan to organize exhibitions of African art, different cultural events with the aim of bringing closer not only our politicians and representatives of business and research communities, but the people of different countries.
In organizing the 2013 Budapest Africa Forum we build on the active cooperation of the Ministry of National Economy, Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, the Municipality of the City of Budapest, as well as the Hungarian Institute for International Affairs, the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency, and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.