Italy-Africa perspectives, Luiss webinar on Tuesday 23 February

Diaspora program with faculty, associations, student debate

ROMA – Italy, Africa and their common horizons, with young people at the center, protagonists of every possible partnership: this is the proposal for debate and reflection in the second webinar of the Luiss University Program, scheduled for Tuesday 23 February at 2 pm UCT+1 Time Zone.

On the topic of “Italian and African geopolitical perspectives”, faculty and experts from the University will discuss the issue with representatives from government, organizers from associations and international students, of African origin and from elsewhere, building upon ideas from the first meeting in the series and suggesting new ones in view of the future meetings scheduled on a monthly basis until 25 May.

After a welcome address by the moderator Raffaele Marchetti, Deputy Rector for Internationalization at Luiss University, the floor will pass to Giuseppe Mistretta, Foreign Affairs Ministry central director for Sub-Saharan Africa, who will get proceedings under way with a talk on “Young people in framework of the partnership with Africa”. Mehret Tewolde, CEO of the Italy Africa Business Week project, will speak about “Women, university cooperation and development”. After Gianpiero Succi, partner in the Bonelli Erede law firm, offers an insight on “Partnerships with Africa, regulatory frameworks”, it will be the turn of Simohamed Kaabour, President of CoNNGI – Coordinamento Nazionale Nuove Generazioni, with a reflection on “Education and globalization: the role of the new Italian generations”.

Roberto Ridolfi, President of the Link 2007 NGO network, will address the theme of “Italian civil society as an engine of innovation for financing sustainable development in Africa”, after which Alfonso Giordano, Professor of Political Geography at Luiss University, will focus on “Demographic dynamics and migratory flows in the Euro-Mediterranean area: the role of human capital”.

This will be followed by a debate with contributions and ideas from students. Central to the discussion will be the gaze and representations, as clarified by the title “How young Italians look towards Africa and How young Africans look towards Italy”. The session will be moderated by Marco Francesco Mazzù, recruiting leader and Professor of Marketing & Digital at Luiss University, and Susanna Owusu Twumwah, communications expert and former organizer of the National Summit of Diasporas.