PROGRAMME OF ACTION OF THE FIRST AFRICA- MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON THE DIASPORA WE, Ministers of the African Union and the Caribbean TAKING COGNISANCE of the dialogue we had with representatives of various regions of the world in which the African Diaspora are located; EXPRESSING, our appreciation to His Excellency, President Thabo Mbeki, the Government and People of the Republic of South Africa and the African Union for the warm reception and for hosting and conducting this meeting; RECALLING, the Constitutive Act of the African Union that is guided by a common vision of a united and strong Africa based on a partnership between governments and all segments of society in order to strengthen cohesion and solidarity among its peoples; ALSO RECALLING the Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union approved by the First Extra-Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2003, of which Article 3(q) invites the African Diaspora to participate as an important component in the building of the African Union, as well as other relevant African Union legislation and instruments, including the Decision of the Executive Council on the Development of the Diaspora Initiative of the African Union (Ext/EX/CL/5(lll)) and the Decision of the Executive Council on the Definition of the Diaspora (EX/CL/221(VII); FURTHER RECALLING, the commemoration of the bicentennial of the trafficking in Africans, an obligation to remember the legacy of history, particularly the era of colonialism and slavery and the enforced separation of African people as a result of that experience; TAKING INTO account the need to put African history in its proper perspective and to rebuild the African family; RECOGNIZING, the need to build sustainable partnerships between the African Diaspora and the African Continent through sustainable dialogue and effective collaboration with governments and peoples of different regions of the World in which the Diaspora population are located; ACKNOWLEDGING the need to celebrate and preserve the shared heritage between Africa and persons of African descent in the African Diaspora; COGNISANT, of the fact that culture informs all facets of development;