African tour planned

Press, 15 March 1982, Page 6

African tour planned

The head of the Africa Information Centre in Wellington has never visited Africa, but that will change soon. The centre's director. Mr Rupert Watson, formerly of Christchurch, will leave with Mrs Watson for Africa today, where they will spend three months visiting 13 countries. The trip had been made possible by an $B5OO grant from the Commonwealth Foundation, said Mr Watson. The centre was an educa-

lional trust, formed in 1978. funded by various aid and development organisations, and had the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its two . main functions were handling inquiries about Africa, from schools, the news media, and others, and organising community education programmes. An Africa Week in Christchurch in 1980 was promoted by the centre. A similar promotion was done in Auckland last year, and

there would be another in Wellington at the end oi this year, said Mr Watson. ■ Mr Watson has had assistance from Australian and Canadian diplomatic sources in planning this trip. He will meet Government agencies, partners of New Zealand business concerns, and tourist and cultural agencies and organisations. He will also get in touch with African journalists to “get a good look” at what is happening in Africa.