EU, partner countries to hold southern energy corridor summit

PRAGUE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission and the Czech Presidency of the EU will host a summit on Friday in Prague with partner countries on the development of the Southern Corridor for energy and transport.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will meet with the leaders of partner countries from Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Mashreq and Middle East.

Participants will discuss concrete ways for moving forward with the development of the Southern Corridor for energy and transport, in particular the supplies of natural gas to the EU along the Corridor route.

This is the first summit at which potential partners in the Southern Corridor meet at the highest level to discuss their energy transit.

A declaration will provide the first formal commitments by consumer, producer and transit states on the conditions necessary to make a success of the Corridor, according to a statement from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

"After four years of intensive dialogue with our energy partners from Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Mashreq and the Middle East, today we are moving ahead with concrete commitments to make the Southern Corridor, including the Trans-Caspian link a reality," said Barroso in the statement.

The participating partner countries are Azerbaijan, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Representatives of Russia, the United States and Ukraine will participate as observers, while representatives of the international financial institutions such as the European Investment Bank and the World Bank will also present.

The objective of the summit is to provide strong political support and concrete commitments for the development of the Southern Corridor, including the Trans-Caspian interconnection.

This would include commitments by energy producer, transit and consumer countries along the Corridor and would facilitate the supplies of energy resources from the Caspian region and Middle East to the EU.

The EU has recently embarked on an ambitious plan to enhance its energy security after experiencing "gas crisis" in the past winter.

Within this strategy, the Southern Corridor plays an important role as a major energy infrastructure initiative contributing to diversification of energy sources and routes for EU supplies.

African countries advised to diversify economies

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

LUSAKA, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- A senior Zambian government official has advised
African countries to diversify their economies in view of the global crisis
which has resulted in falling commodity prices.

Zambian Vice President George Kunda told a meeting of ministers of Eastern
and Southern African countries that it was important to diversify economies in
order to cushion the problems of single commodity dependence.

"The current global crisis is affecting us more than we had anticipated.
Most of our countries are dependent of single or few commodities and the price
of these commodities have fallen drastically over the past six months," he said.

He said most commodities dependent on by most African countries such as
copper, oil, platinum coal and iron ore were now fetching less than six months
ago.

"Businesses are closing down and our people are losing jobs and their
income is being eroded. Because of lower prices, businesses are holding back new
investments to safeguard investors' value," he added.

He said African countries must realize that open market policies were no
longer optimal.

The ministers are meeting to look at the progress made in the Economic
Partnership Agreements (EPAs) currently going on between the African Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU). Eastern and Southern
African countries are negotiating as one group.

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) secretary general
Sindiso Ngwenya said negotiations at a technical level "have so far been frozen"
waiting for political guidance but expressed hope that a resolution would be
found.

The ministers are expected to provide guidance as to the process, content
and strategy to engage the EU.

The EPAs are expected to replace the existing Contonou Agreement that
exists between the EU and the ACP.