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Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbé has invited African Union and Sadc Chair President Mugabe to attend the AU Conference on Maritime Security and Development in Lome in November.
Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa received the invitation from President Gnassingbé’s special envoy and Togo Foreign Minister Mr Robert Dussey at his Harare offices yesterday.
Addressing journalists after delivering the message, Minister Dussey said: “I brought a special message from President Faure Gnassingbé to President Robert Mugabe because he is the Chairman of the African Union.
“Togo is organising, this year, the African Union Conference on Maritime Security and Development in Africa.
‘‘So we had come to invite President Mugabe as our leader in the African Union. The Conference will be between November 2 and 7 in Lome this year.”
Togo offered to host the conference during the 23rd Ordinary Session of the African Union in Equatorial Guinea last year.
While incidents of maritime piracy have decreased globally in recent years, the West African coast has recorded an increase — especially in the Gulf of Guinea.
Studies show pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea increased by 33 percent in 2013.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, the annual cost of piracy to the global economy ranges between US$7 and US$12 billion.
The AU Conference on Maritime Security and Development will draw Heads of State and Government, regional economic communities, institutions specialising in maritime and related activities, and Africa’s development partners.
Online Reporter