NEWLY-APPOINTED US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, Walter Kansteiner, will be heading up a delegation of US members of Congress at the 7th World Wilderness Congress in Port Elizabeth during November. It will be one of Kansteiner’s first official visits to Africa after taking office, according to World Wilderness Congress (WWC) executive director Andrew Muir. “The presence of this high-level delegation to the congress confirms the importance of the congress as the only public forum of its type in the world,” says Muir. “All other environmental conferences and congresses reserve attendance to selected audiences. “The World Wilderness Congress, in contrast, is not a gathering of specialists in any one particular field. It is a meeting place of business, politicians and environmentalists,” he says. Mr Kansteiner brings a strong business focus to his portfolio. A founding Principal of The Scowcroft Group, he has over twenty years experience with African and emerging market business issues. Mr Kansteiner has advised corporations on a wide range of mergers, acquisitions, and privatisations throughout Africa, according to his biography. Recent transactions that he has been involved with include telecommunications, forestry, financial services, healthcare, and aviation services. Mr. Kansteiner advised the buy side on the $1.3 billion privatisation of Telkom South Africa, to date the largest privatisation in Africa.Prior to joining The Scowcroft Group, Mr. Kansteiner was Executive Vice President of a commodity trading and processing company, which specialized in tropical commodities (coffee, cocoa and sugar). In addition to his business experience in emerging markets, Mr. Kansteiner served in the U.S. government as the Director of African Affairs on the National Security Council staff. He also served as the Africa specialist on the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, and with the Department of Defence as a member of the strategic minerals task force. In 1991, Mr Kansteiner received the State Department's Distinguished Honour Award for work promoting privatisation. The US Senate delegation will be joined by a number of other high-profile national and international delegations that will be attending the Congress, which is being held in Port Elizabeth from November 2 to 8 this year, according to Mr Muir. They include a ten-person delegation from the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), led by chief executive Mohamed T. El-Ashry.