Former Cabinet Minister Alfred Sears is off to Africa.

Mr. Sears, the managing partner of Sears & Co. law firm, has been invited to participate in the African Diaspora Summit and Events as an expert and delegate in Pretoria from May 17 to May 26.

In 2003, the African Union, formerly the Organisation of African Unity, amended its constitution, specifically Article 3(3q), to invite and encourage the African Diaspora to become a permanent part of the policy and processes of the African Union to facilitate African unity. 

Two years later, the African Union defined the Diaspora as “. . . peoples of African descent and the heritage living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship, and who remain committed to contribute to the development of the continent and building the African Union.”

A roadmap was endorsed by the African Union in July 2010 in the Kampala Summit. 

Pursuant to the roadmap, a Technical Committee of Experts Meeting was held in Pretoria, South Africa last February. Mr. Sears participated, preparing the agenda for the summit.

A meeting of foreign ministers was held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 24, 2011 during which it was resolved to convene a Global Diaspora Summit with heads of state and government from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas in South Africa on 25 May, 2012.

The Summit will be preceded by a Civil Society Consultative Forum on the African Diaspora Dialogue on May 17 and 18, a Pan African Parliament Ministerial Debate on the African Diaspora on May 22, an Intellectuals Conference on African Diaspora on May 24 and an African Diaspora Summit with heads of state and government on May 25.