The maiden Pan African Heritage Conference has been slated for August 5-7, this year, a statement issued by the Communication Department of the Pan African Heritage World in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency has said.

The conference, to be held virtually, is the first global conference of the Pan African Heritage World since it was launched on September 21, 2020, to bring together academics, cultural workers, creatives, entrepreneurs and innovators in the wide Pan African world to deliberate on practical ways to bridge the knowledge gap among peoples of African descent.

It would be held under the theme: "Building Bridges among Africans worldwide through Scholarship, Culture, Technology and Innovation," the statement added.

It said the conference preceded the start of the Pan African Heritage World Museum, which would be completed in December 2022 and commissioned in Ghana in 2023.

Speakers to feature at the conference, the statement added are; Professor Molefi Kete Asante of Temple University, USA, Dr Runoko Rashidi, Historian and Public Lecturer, Professor Maulana Karenga, Professor on African Studies and Founder of Kwanzaa Festival and Emeritus Professor Kofi Asare Opoku of Ghana.

The rest are; Emeritus Prof. Rupert Lewis of Jamaica, Emeritus Professor Iva Carruthers of California, Mr Onyekachi Wambu of AFFORD-UK, Dr Aurola Vergara-Figueroa of Columbia, Professor Toyin Falola of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr Sheila Walker, Cultural Anthropologist, USA.

The Pan African Heritage World is an international non-political, non-profit NGO registered in Ghana, the USA, and various parts of the world, to construct a Heritage Museum complex in Ghana to provide the opportunity to unlearn and relearn the history, culture, ideals and civilization of Africa from mankind's creation till the present.

The first living museum of its kind in Africa, the complex, includes the Pan African Heroes Park, the Palace of African Kingdoms, the African Herbal Plant Village and a host of experiential programmes and activities.

The Museum project is endorsed by the African Union Commission, the Association of African Universities, UNESCO, the NAACP, and many other international organizations.

The August conference will also launch the Virtual Version of the Pan African Heritage World Museum.