Africities in Nairobi.

The fourth pan-African meeting of local government authorities, Africities, opens in Nairobi on 18 September. The five-day summit on the theme of joint action in local government will examine how major cities can cooperate to achieve the eight millennium goals for development established by the United Nations in 2000: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development, all by 2015. Roughly 10,000 delegates representing local governments, national, regional and continental organisations, civil society and the business community are expected to attend. The first Africities conference was held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, in 1998, followed by Windhoek, Namibia (2000), and Yound, Cameroon (2003). For information see the Africities website www.africities2006nairobi.org.