Addis Ababa — The Chairperson of the African Union, João Lourenço, on Thursday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, instructed the organization’s Commission to pay special attention to infrastructure and to outline a strategy to mobilize international partners interested in making mutually beneficial investments.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the African Union Commission, the AU Chairperson stressed that infrastructure is one of the essential pillars of the AU’s Agenda 2063, and that it is therefore necessary to mobilize as much financial resources as possible to achieve the goals set in this area, as well as in the areas of technological innovation, food security and energy transition.
João Lourenço said that the AU Commission, in coordination with the Economic Communities and Regional Mechanisms, should work on organizing a major continental conference on infrastructure in Africa this year, where the importance and benefits of financing and investing in continental interconnection infrastructure should be conveyed to the main cooperation partners.
The conference, according to the Angolan President, will be a way for partners to participate directly in the whole process of growth and development in Africa, one of the different ways of doing justice to Africans and people of African descent, and one of many other ways of making amends.
“I consider it a priority to invest seriously in the construction and improvement of our roads and motorways, the modernization of our railways, ports and airports, as well as the construction of electricity transmission and distribution lines, so that we can bring energy from areas where there is a surplus to those that lack this basic commodity,” Lourenço said.
The AU Chairperson defended the need to work together to build a new international financial architecture so that the continent is no longer seen as a secondary and marginal player, but as an active and decisive part of the global economy.
President João Lourenço considered it essential that the African Union come to the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development in Seville, Spain, with a clear vision of what it wants to achieve: easier and fairer access to appropriate financial resources to implement projects aimed at boosting Africa’s socio-economic progress.
During the event, the Commissioners for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Infrastructure and Energy, Political Affairs, Peace and Security and Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, Moses Vilakati (Eswatini), Lerato D. Mataboge (South Africa), Bankole Adeoye (Nigeria) and Amma A. Twum-Amoah (Ghana) were sworn in.
Due to a lack of candidates, the Commissioners for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals and for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation were not elected at last month’s summit, which has been postponed until April.
Applications for these two posts must be restricted to men and women from the continent’s central region, according to the commission’s statute and the conference’s rules of procedure.SR/ART/AMP
