Fukuda to meet Bono, other celebrities, to lure them to Africa confab

Jan 13, 2008
TOKYO, Jan. 13 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is planning to meet U2 rock singer Bono, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Hollywood actor Matt Damon on the sidelines of a major conference in Switzerland later this month to make a personal pitch for their attendance at an African development conference in Japan in May, a government source said Sunday.
The Japanese government has invited Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Kenya, to the conference and is also sounding out American actress Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the source said.
Bono, a well-known anti-poverty campaigner, and a few other people are understood to have expressed an interest in attending the Tokyo International Conference on African Development to be held in Yokohama, the source said.
TICAD is a major international conference hosted by Japan and the government is planning to draw the heads of state and ministers from 53 African countries as well as officials from western donor countries and multilateral institutions.
The Japanese government is aiming to raise the profile of the conference, which it believes has not drawn as much public interest as hoped, by seeking the participation of the celebrities.
Fukuda is expected to leave Japan on Jan. 25 to deliver a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which commences Jan. 23. Negotiations are under way to set up meetings between Fukuda and the celebrities before or after the speech, the source said.