Twenty countries in Africa, the Americas and Asia, including Canada, Egypt, Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa and India, intend to participate in this year’s Abuja Carnival from November 20 - 23 2008.

The annual African carnival is packaged by the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation in Abuja to showcase the cultural riches of the states of the country.

Director-General of the Abuja carnival, Prof Ahmed Yerima said this year’s carnival would surpass that of previous years.

The announcement was made during the opening of a training workshop which aims to serve as a forum for domestic sensitization, appreciation of states participants/ artistes, review of standards, documentation of cultural packaging, skill acquisition on costuming, formatting and procession presentations, floats construction and to identify states challenges and constraints.

Prof Yerima said the annual event has successfully exposed the cultural and tourism potentials of the countries to the foreign nations as it had attracted a lot of them in the last three years.

He added that the event meant to showcase traditional African carnival of music; dance and arts had been a veritable opportunity for the countries and Abuja to exhibit their potentials.