'Africa Must Win FIFA World Cup By 2063' - Dr. Dlamini Zuma to Issa Hayatou

PRESS RELEASE

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18 September, 2014: "By 2063 Africa should have won the FIFA World Cup at least once: not just host, but won", African Union Commission Chairperson H.E. Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said to Mr. Issa Hayatou, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when they met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 18 September 2014.

The CAF President paid a courtesy call on the AUC Chairperson ahead of CAF's annual Executive Committee meeting holding at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Hayatou thanked the AUC Chairperson for hosting the meeting during which CAF will decide on the host nations for AFCON 2019 and 2021.

Having attracted massive attendance from national delegations including very high level representatives from the five countries vying to host, the AU has become both Africa's political and football capital during these days, Mr. Hayatou said.

"CAF has a special place not only in the AU, but also in the continent. The organization enables our young people to do sports, while demonstrating their great talents. Most importantly the games embody enormous capacity to enhance our integration and social cohesion", Dr. Dlamini Zuma said while welcoming the CAF President and his delegation to feel at home at the AU headquarters.

Dr. Dlamini Zuma took the opportunity of the meeting to brief CAF on Africa's development and transformation agenda. Focusing on Agenda 2063, she invited CAF, like many others have been doing, to also reflect and contribute its ideas on the Africa it would like to see in 2063.

Teasing out some popular aspirations emerging from national consultations in contribution to Agenda 2063, Dr. Dlamini Zuma said the youths would like to have common African curricula so that they can study and work anywhere on the continent; The businesspeople would like to have an African passport to freely travel around the continent without the hurdles of applying for visas; the women would like to have more access to land and modern inputs to carry out agricultural activities. Dr. Dlamini Zuma also said Africa would like to connect its capitals with high speed trains, provide broadband connections to every village, build modern transport infrastructure; make renewable energy abundantly available and more.

The AUC Chairperson and CAF President also discussed the situation of the Ebola epidemic as well as other issues of development and peace that the continent is currently faced with.

"Listening to you and hearing your thoughts, we know Africa is in good hands. Africa is on the right path. I can assure you of CAF's presence and support in dealing with all these key continental issues", the CAF President said, while re-assuring the AUC Chairperson that Africa is doing everything possible to not only continue hosting the World Cup, but to also win it even before 2063.

Source: allAfrica.com