SWAZILAND: US mayors meet counterparts on HIV/AIDS
JOHANNESBURG, 8 September (IRIN) - Three US mayors from a delegation of 10 concluded their recent visit to four African countries by meeting their Swazi counterparts to discuss ways of tackling the country's HIV/AIDS crisis.
The visit was a follow-up to initial meetings in June, in which US and African mayors from Namibia, Swaziland and Uganda participated.
"Swaziland can certainly benefit from US assistance, but this country also offers opportunities for our doctors, students and technical people to be involved in important humanitarian programmes," Meyera Oberndorf, mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia, told the UN news service PlusNews.
The US mayors emphasised that they were laying the groundwork for long-term relationships that would tap into the resources both countries had to offer.
"From the Bush Administration's trade and AIDS initiatives for Africa, to the Conference of Mayors, the US is showing its commitment to Africa," US Ambassador to Swaziland, James McGee, confirmed.
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