African Church Leaders To Meet Today on Capitol Hill

A delegation of top church leaders from nine different African countries are currently meeting with policy leaders on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, to discuss the results of the G8 summit and the next step forward.

The 11-man delegation, which includes All Africa Conference of Churches General Secretary Bishop Mvume Dandala, started the day with a breakfast hosted by Christopher Smith, chairperson of the African Sub-Committee of the House of Representatives.

The delegation then moved on to a luncheon dialogue sponsored by Church World Service’s Africa Forum, a platform which works to foster and support international peace dialogue and cooperation aimed at a more sustainable development within Africa.

The luncheon gave the visitors the opportunity to meet with representatives from the faith and NGO community involved with Africa aid and development work, including representatives of the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration 3 coalition.

AGOA 3 is a non-profit association of companies, trade associations and NGOS seeking to expand the AGOA program, which aims to create fairer trading relationships with African countries.

Church World Service CEO and Executive Director Rev. John L. McCullough says "Africa's civil society and faith leaders want the commitments reached in Scotland last week to be made real– sooner rather than later."

He continued, "To maintain the momentum, Bishop Dandala and the delegation want to increase the focus now on hunger and poverty, human trafficking and trade justice– rather than waiting for those issues to be picked up again at further G-8 meetings this fall or, worse, simply fading from the global radar screen."