The meeting - in Nairobi, Kenya, 20-21 March - is the first of its kind, and was planned jointly by AACC and the WCC Africa Task Force.

The 30-member AACC General Committee and the 28 African members of the WCC Central Committee are expected to identify priority issues facing Africa which the two ecumenical bodies can address and work on jointly at the start of the new millennium. The delegates are also being asked to explore areas of convergence and possible sharing of tasks and responsibilities, and to consider linkages with the three existing sub-regional fellowships: the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa (FECCLAHA), the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FECISA), and the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA) as well as with a new fellowship proposed for Central Africa.

Further objectives for the two governing bodies are a common strategy for closer collaboration with other regional ecumenical expressions and institutions, common advocacy concerns and plans for mutual accountability.

The meeting is being co-moderated by AACC president, the Very Rev. Professor Kwesi Dickson (Ghana), and WCC president, Dr Agnes Aboum (Kenya). Keynote speakers are the president of the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda, Rev. André Karamaga (Rwanda), on "The one ecumenical movement" and Dr Agnes Aboum on "Issues facing Africa".

For further information, please contact:
AACC press and information officer, Mitch Odero, e-mail: mitch@insightkenya.com, or
WCC media relations officer, Karin Achtelstetter (see below)