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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
AFRICAN Parliamentary Union (Apu) secretary-general Mr Idi Gado Boubacar has said he is happy with Victoria Falls as the venue of the organisation’s conference to be held in November.

Mr Boubacar said the city provides perfect venues for international meetings judging by its conference facilities.

The Ivorian is in the country to assess preparations ahead of the Apu 78th executive committee indaba.

At least 40 countries will be represented at the conference.

Mr Boubacar arrived in the country on Monday to assess the preparations and signed a Memorandum of

Understanding with Parliament of Zimbabwe in Harare on behalf of Apu.

The agreement was to formalise Zimbabwe’s commitment to host the event.

He also paid a courtesy call on Senate President Mabel Chinomona at Parliament Building.

Cde Chinomona was elected vice-president of the executive committee representing Southern Africa at the last Apu conference held in 2020 in Djibouti.

Mr Boubacar visited Victoria Falls on Wednesday to assess the venue and also toured other facilities that will accommodate delegates.

In an interview, Mr Boubacar said he was happy with the state of facilities in the city.

“We have visited Victoria Falls and we think that it is a very interesting place for conferences especially this conference we have to organise here,” said Mr Boubacar speaking through an interpreter Mr Cherouati Samir.

He said the conference will be a platform for Apu members to discuss Africa’s challenges.

Among the challenges, Mr Boubacar said, is the scourge of terrorism that has affected a number of countries, especially in West Africa, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic which he said affected economies and operations of respective parliaments.

“There will be many delegates and Parliamentarians from the African continent and we think that this is an opportunity for them to know Zimbabwe and also Victoria Falls.

As we arrived in Victoria Falls, we noticed there are many places like hotels to welcome delegates and this makes it a very perfect place that makes the city adaptive and perfect to hosting such international events,” he said.

Kingdom Hotel general manager Mr Nkosi Moyo said he was excited to host such a big event. – @ncubeleon