AU FrontPage

WORKSHOP ON THE JOINT PROGRAM “LABOUR MIGRATION GOVERNANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND INTEGRATION IN AFRICA”

OPENING REMARKS BY DR. MUSTAPHA. S. KALOKO,

COMMISSIONER FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS
AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

18 February 2015

PROTOCOL

1. On behalf of the African Union Commission, I would like to express my appreciation for your presence at this Sensitization Workshop on “Labour Migration Governance for Development and Integration in Africa” This is an initiative jointly developed by AUC, ILO, IOM and UNECA.

2. Labour migration is a fundamental feature of national and regional migration policy and a key factor in achieving African economic integration. It is a powerful driver of sustainable economic and social development including boosting intra-Africa trade with the potential to contribute significantly to the transformational African Union Agenda 2063 towards Regional Economic Integration. Facilitating labour mobility within Africa has the potential to unlock opportunities to deepen regional integration and economic cooperation for inclusive growth and sustainable development, while reducing the negative social and human impacts of irregular migration.

3. Africa is faced with an increasing shortage of skilled workers coupled with high unemployment rate amongst the low-skilled. At the same time, the continent loses some 70,000 skilled workers annually due to outward migration, resulting in a huge human capacity deficit in the continent. This, according to the African Development Bank, has resulted in the continent expending some 4 billion dollars (about 35 percent of Official Development Assistance) to recruit some 100,000 “expatriates”.

4. The migration of labour is typically associated with allocative, distributive and external effects. Migrants are especially useful in rapidly reducing imbalances brought on by the inability of native production factors to quickly adjust. Since many parameters are changing globally, sustained growth, prosperity, employment and social security can only be safeguarded through a flexible market and the promotion of mobility. Labor migration thus leads to better deployment of economic resources and increases production

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

5. In April 2014, the Special Session of the Labour and Social Affairs Commission in Windhoek (April 2014) endorsed) the Labour Migration Initiative. Building on that endorsement, the 24th Summit of the African Union held in January 2015 adopted THIS AUC/ILO/IOM/ECA JOINT LABOUR MIGRATION PROGRAMME (JLMP), a strategic and flagship initiative in support of the implementation of the labour migration priority of the Ouaga + 10 process.

6. Despite the endorsement of several policy instruments prior to the JLMP, such as the Migration Policy Framework for Africa (MPFA), we continue to face several impediments, including the lack of effective domestication and implementation, lack of mutual recognition of credentials and qualifications and inappropriate social protection mechanisms. Additionally, labor mobility is hampered by the absence of implementation of protocol on free movement of persons as well as the prevalence of rigid border formalities. While the region is now well equipped with a strategy (MPFA) and a politically validated programme of action (JLMP) spearheaded by the AUC with coordinated support from the ILO, IOM and UNECA, it now needs to concentrate its efforts on working towards an operational roadmap. This is what this meeting and others to follow will offer to begin thorough inclusive awareness raising of key-stakeholders.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

7. In as much as our governments and Member States may have valid concerns and genuine fears about the consequences of free movement of persons or Labour mobility, there is no empirical evidence to suggest or to support such concerns.

8. With more than half of African migrants seeking decent job opportunities, one of the expected outcomes of the AU / IOM joint initiative is to facilitate free movement of persons within Africa that has the potential to reduce the pressure and consequently the number of African migrants likely to use irregular and dangerous migration channels. It is also expected to unlock opportunities to deepen regional integration and economic cooperation for inclusive growth and sustainable development in Africa.
9. In Conclusion, the JLMP has many constructive ideas to address the challenges of labour mobility. However, the AUC has limited leeway due to limited capacity. That is why the importance of this sensitization workshop cannot be cannot be overstated. I am hopeful that our partners would leave this workshop fully cognizant of the importance of this initiative as well as the need to provide strategic assistance for effective implementation. I also hope that your contributions will inform discussions to lead us to the Roundtable Conference on Migration and Intra-Regional integration that is planned to take place in March in Kigali Rwanda

I wish you fruitful deliberations and I look forward to a positive outcome of this meeting.
Thank you.

Keynote Address by H.E. Mrs Tumusiime Rhoda Peace
Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the
African Union Commission

On

"The Agriculture Future We Want"

At the AU Joint Conference of Ministers of
Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture

1 May 2014
AU Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I thank the Chairperson of this Joint Conference, Honourable Minister of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Honourable Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, our host
Honourable Ministers of Agriculture, Rural Development, Fisheries and Aquaculture of African Union Member States,
Distinguished Heads of Delegations of African Union Member States,
Distinguished representatives of Regional Economic Communities,
Excellencies members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished representatives of African and international organisations,
Distinguished representatives of Africa's development partners,
Distinguished representatives of Farmers, Non-State Actors,
Dear members of the Media,
Ladies and gentlemen,
My presentation is based on the Agriculture we want. This is within the Africa Agenda 2063 that you have just listened to by way of introduction.
As Commissioner responsible for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union Commission, allow me to join H.E The Deputy Chairperson of the Commission who this morning, welcomed you all to this important Conference.
Let me begin by saying that it is my singular honour and pleasure to convey to you warm greetings and best wishes of the African Union Commission and our Chairperson H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, on the occasion of this opportune and important Conference.
Indeed, as we all know, this Conference comes at a time when we move towards concluding a year-long celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the OAU, now AU under the theme "Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance." And as you all know Pan Africanism is about asserting African dignity and so, ensuring a food and nutrition secure citizenry is central to Pan Africanism and African Renaissance.
This Conference also comes as the first political follow-up milestone to the formal launch by the AU Heads of State and Government on 30 January 2014, of 2014 as the Year of Agriculture and Food Security also commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).
More importantly, this meeting serves as a key stepping stone in the build up to the next June Summit, where AU Heads of State and Government will debate on the theme of the Year of Agriculture and Food Security with a view to providing strategic direction and adopting a Declaration of renewed and strengthened commitments towards concrete goals and targets in advancing Africa's agriculture and food security agenda for the next decade.
From the outset, it is deemed fitting that we proceed from a shared vision of the Future Agriculture We Want for Africa. Because, short of agreeing on where we want to be, we may end up elsewhere or nowhere.
Africa Agenda 2063 Vision and the Year of Agriculture and Food Security
Let us start with, the Agriculture Future We Want is an integral part of the bigger Agenda 2063 Vision of The Africa We Want, that is “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena” as you have already heard.
This is reflected in the very theme of the Year of Agriculture and Food Security, which is "Transforming Africa's agriculture for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods through capturing opportunities for inclusive growth and sustainable development" that relates directly to the pan-African transformative Agenda 2063.
From the consultations we have so far held with multiple stakeholders across the African continent at different levels, the emerging picture of the agriculture future we want is one that is driven by a broad base of dynamic and creative African citizens, contributing to creating inclusive growth, shared prosperity and sustainable development across the continent and to making Africa a major player in the global agrifood economy. It has been observed that today, there are no productive sectors that can help accelerate our walk towards this bright Africa future more than the agriculture and food system.
Bluntly put, in a "farm-to-fork" value chain perspective, this system provides for a potential total business value of US$ 1 trillion by 2030 rising up to US$ 3 trillion by 2050! At this juncture, what could better contribute to achieving a vision of a prosperous, food and nutrition secure and, therefore, poverty-free, peaceful Africa more than unleashing the capacities and resourcefulness of the majority of Africa's citizens to realize that potential to create and capture broad-based wealth and jobs from such a multi-trillion dollar business? The answer, I have no doubt, is more than obvious to this august policy audience.

Defining features of the agriculture future we want

Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There are converging voices indicating that to realize that dream, we need an agriculture future grounded in five solid foundations ranging from production and productivity, value addition, food and nutrition security, to resilience and investment finance.
Increased production and productivity
First, the agriculture future we want should be a future of a modern and productive agriculture anchored in a solid science and knowledge foundation.
This is considered as being imperative because ten years after the adoption of CAADP, Africa's agricultural output has been growing at an average annual rate of 4%, one-third short of the targeted 6% growth rate achieved or surpassed by only a few countries.
It is thus recommended that for Africa to redress this shortfall in the future, national and regional centres of excellence of Africa's science, technology and innovation systems will have to be capacitated to fully implement the Science Agenda for Agriculture in Africa, and generate and disseminate the knowledge and technologies required to double agricultural total factor productivity by 2025. As you know, 2025 is an important target set by AU Heads of State by which time we should have ended hunger on the continent.
At the same time, African farmers, including the majority of smallholders and women among them, should have secured access to and rights over the land they nurture and manage productively and sustainably. Farmers have to be equipped with adequate knowledge and sustainable water management systems (especially irrigation). These farmers have to be continuously afforded reliable and efficient access to the best inputs, equipment and financial services by a thriving African agricultural input industry and services business, in order to engage in modern and profitable farming enterprises that attract the continent's increasingly educated youth. In the projected desirable future, African smallholders especially women farmers should have been liberated from the use of a hand-hoe, to modernize and upgrade. We will have to phase out the hand-hoe if we are attract the youth into agriculture. The youth cannot get attracted to agriculture if we continue to use rudimentary technology but rather if we apply modern technology. In the future we want, the right place for the hand-hoe should be a museum.

Increased value-addition and access to better functioning markets and trade
Second, the agriculture future we want should be one of a competitive food and agriculture system, which meets the fast-growing and diversifying agrifood demands of intra-African local, national and regional markets and, beyond, responding increasingly to the demands of a growing and exigent global market.
To this end, the first call for Africa's agrifood systems is to get preferential access to and conquer the intra-African market which, under the combined effects of the continent's population growth (about 3% per year), strong income growth (at 5% or more over the last decade) and rapid urbanization (at the annual pace of 5%), are demanding for more quality, diversified and convenient food and agricultural products. These opportunities are further sharpened by the fact that the African urban food markets are projected to grow to the tune of US$ 400 billion per year by 2030. We want a future that will take Africa away from the scenario where the continent footed a staggering food import bill averaging US$ 69.5 billion and escalating at the fast pace of 15% per year from 2010 to 2012 !
To capture the growing internal market opportunities and increase the share of intra-African trade to at least 50% of the continent's total agrifood trade by 2025, the agriculture future we want is one where adequate market and trade infrastructure -- including roads, railways and transport services; ICTs; storage and agro-processing facilities; commodity exchanges, market information and other structured trade facilitation services -- connect farmers to local, national and regional markets through a dynamic web of efficient value chains of strategic food and agricultural commodities.
Leveraging the emergence and flourishing of a vibrant sector of small, medium and even large joint-venture agro-processing and agribusiness enterprises, which attract a core of young and skilled African women and men entrepreneurs in those value chains, will require bold policies addressing the fragmentation of the African agrifood market through the establishment of an integrated continental market free of all (tariff as well as non-tariff) barriers to intra-African trade in agrifood products and protected from external unfair trading practices. Without losing sight of the continent's collective interests for greater integration in the global markets, Africa's agrifood systems will thrive within a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), supported by an effective Common External Tariff scheme that strengthens regional preference in agrifood trade by 2019.

Food and nutrition security for all
Third, in this integrated and effective market space, the agriculture future we want is one that will end hunger and ensure food and nutrition security for all Africa's citizens on a self-reliance (food sovereignty) basis by 2025. What will primarily contribute to reaching this state of affairs are effective policy and social protection interventions aimed not only at reducing Africa's dependency on increasingly expensive, volatile and uncertain global food markets, but also at strengthening sustainable livelihoods and dietary diversity for target vulnerable groups including children, women, female-headed households, youth, as well as poor smallholders, pastoralists and peri-urban people. That is the inclusive nature of the Pan-Africanist approach in the agricultural transformation we want.
Resilience to climate change and other risks
Fourth, the future we want is one that will be characterized by resilient food and agricultural systems. In the context of increasing and intensifying adverse impacts of climate change and other natural disasters with highly vulnerable communities and nations, the future we want will be one where climate change adaptation shall be strongly integrated in agricultural investment plans, strengthened by functional resilience mechanisms at national, regional and continental levels. With particular focus on women, youth and other vulnerable groups, access by smallholders to finance and technology for climate adaptation and management of other risks shall be strongly enhanced.
Public-private engagement and investment financing
Fifth, the agriculture future we want rests before and above all on Africa's own resources and resourcefulness after all Pan Africanism has at its core not only self-determination but also self-reliance. I am sure you will all agree with me that the very promising agriculture future depicted above will come at a cost. We should first look within ourselves, mobilise and harness domestic resources, before we put out our hand for help. This will be an eloquent demonstration of not only our commitment but also our ownership and leadership of the African agriculture we want. Then, we can expect additional support and in this connection, Africa's development partners should deliver on their support commitments in line with Africa's priorities as, indeed, the future we want calls for alignment of such support to our own defined priorities and programmes.
Coming back to looking into ourselves, I wish to point out that against the commitment in the Declaration at the Maputo 2003 AU Summit to allocate at least 10% of total public expenditures to agriculture, only 13 countries have reached or surpassed this target in any year so far. Although the volume of public expenditures on agriculture has increased at an impressive rate of 7.4% between 2003 and 2010, agriculture's share in total public spending has fallen below the 2003 level as expenditures on other sectors increased faster. But the future we want is one premised on public private partnership and not government acting alone.
Despite recent positive developments such as the expansion of pan-African banking groups, the related increase in competition and the infusion of new technologies, products and managerial techniques, including mobile money and ICT products, private-sector financing for agriculture remains very limited, averaging only 5.8% of total commercial lending. This poor performance of the financial sector vis-a-vis agriculture is associated with the persistent challenges of lending risks due to the variability of agricultural outputs and incomes, gender bias against women's access to credit, insecure land tenure issues, as well as financial institutions' reluctance to lend to unemployed youth lacking collateral security.
However, against the prospects of booming agrifood markets and virtually world-wide growing interest in African agriculture, the future agriculture we want calls for African Union Member States to reaffirm and deliver on their commitment made in the Maputo 2003 Declaration to translate their pronounced priority for agriculture through the allocation of a significantly increased share of their respective national public expenditures for the structural and sustainable transformation of the agricultural sector. Moreover, such spending should go beyond public investment to develop farming to embrace the needs for the development of the full value chains, markets and trade for strategic agrifood commodities. It should also serve to leverage, through effective public-private partnerships, private-sector investment financing at a scale commensurate with the wealth and job creation potential of transformed agrifood systems that Africa cannot afford to miss in this 21st Century, Our Century.
While all the five areas I just outlined are key for transforming agriculture on the African continent, for us to realize this vision, we will require improved sector governance and coordination. This entails several actions, notably:
(i) improving the agricultural institutions in terms of their capacity to effectively and efficiently implement agricultural plans at the different levels, particularly national and regional; (ii) improving the quality of policies supported by evidence; (iii) improving the quality of agricultural data to support sector planning and making ensure any subsequent reforms are based on informed analysis; and (iv) establishing mechanisms for tracking and reporting the performance of the agricultural sector at country, regional and continental levels; reviewing sector performance on a regular basis and creating platforms for joint sector reviews and mutual accountability. As we have learned over the last 10 years, reviewing our performance against the targets in the five strategic areas will help assess the progress we are making, and where necessary pave the way for taking corrective measures to ensure we move steadily towards reaching our set goals. It is for this reason that we developed the CAADP results framework for use by AU member states and RECs to track implementation over the next 10 years. The governance and coordination is critical considering the multiplicity of areas covered by or related to agriculture and this is one of the key reasons that the Joint AU Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Livestock , Fisheries and Aquaculture is being convened with the participation of the Bureau Chairpersons/members of the other related sectors.
Commitment to sustaining the CAADP momentum
Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The outgoing account spells out the agriculture future we want , for which we should toil for the next decade by the CAADP Results Framework, your framework for "Transforming Africa's agriculture for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods through capturing opportunities for inclusive growth and sustainable development."
This is the vision and these are the strategic goals that we invite you to consider. I hope you find them ambitious and bold enough to not only sustain, but also heighten over the next 10 years the momentum of your own comprehensive Africa agriculture transformation agenda, the CAADP Momentum. No doubt, the challenge is big But, against the considerable prospective returns, facing up to the challenge will certainly be more than rewarding.
The AU Commission and the NEPAD Agency look forward to your strategic guidance and wish to assure you that we will follow up the outcomes of your deliberations that I wish the most fruitful possible.
Thank you for your kind attention.

Keynote Address
BY
H.E.MRS. RHODA PEACE TUMUSIIME
COMMISSIONER FOR RURAL ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE
(Member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition)

AT:
THE WORLD FOOD SECURITYSUMMIT
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
9 FEBRUARY, 2015

Thank you our Moderator, Dr Ashraf Mahate, Head of Export Market Intelligence, Dubai Export Development Corporation

Honourable Felix Koskei, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Kenya
H.E. Khadim Abdulla Al Darei, Vice Chairman, Al Dahra Agriculture
Dr. Saad A. Kh. Esa, Director, Office of King Abdullah Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad Ministry of Agriculture
Quintin Gray, Agricultural Counselor, Office of Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Consulate Dubai
Kimble Winter, Global CEO, Logistics Executive Group
Thorsten Hartmann, Director EMEA, Canadean
Alan Smith, Managing Director, GCC and Pakistan, Mondelēz International
Rayan M. Qutub, CEO Industrial Valley – King Abdullah Economic City
Amin Khayyal, General Manager, DuPont

On behalf of the African Union Commission, it is an honour for me to participate in this World Food Security Summit and the Gulfood Leaders’ Event.
I look forward to sharing information and knowledge with the global policy makers and senior industry professionals as we explore together strategies for the future of a sustainable global agriculture industry, policy reforms, farmland strategies, agriculture initiatives, just to mention but a few of the major items on our agenda.
I wish to commend the organisers of this important engagement that has brought us together and for placing focus on building coherent global governance for food security and for including African agro-investments into our discussions on commercial and business opportunities pertaining to agriculture and the food industry.
I must say, at the outset, that I consider this as very important for the African Union as it also brings together some of the key players in the Africa – Arab Cooperation in Agriculture which is one of the components of the Africa-Arab Partnership.
This is one of the most valuable partnerships for Africa and we meet regularly up to the highest level. You would recall that the last Summit of Africa and Arab Heads of State and Government took place in Kuwait in 2013. And prior to that, the Second Conference of Africa-Arab Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the first one having taken place in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt in 2010. And, as you may be aware, the next Africa-Arab Conference of Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development is scheduled for Kampala, Uganda later this Year.
Within this framework of cooperation, we emphasise public – private partnership and I notice, that it is the same spirit at this World Food Security Summit and the Gulfood Leaders’ Event. In fact, within the framework of the Africa-Arab Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, we have a Steering Committee co-chaired by myself on behalf of the African Union Commission and H.E Dr. Tariq bin Mousa Al-Zadjali, Director General of the Arab Organisation for Agricultrual Development, on behalf of the League of Arab States. The Steering Committee is supported by the Joint Facilitation Unit and it is private sector oriented.
In this cooperation framework, Africa’s orientation is guided by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) which has among its key pillars a focus on investment particularly private sector and market access that goes along with value chain development. The Arab partners have, on their part, the Arab Strategy for Sustainable Agricultural Development (ASSAD) - 2005-2025.
This is especially important because we find that while Africa has a good climate, abundant water resources and fertile soils that enable us to produce food and we have potential to feed ourselves and the rest of the world including our Arab neighbours, our main challenge has been the marketing infrastructure. For example, due to poor storage, Africa loses about 30 per cent of her agricultural products in what we call post harvest losses. This is a major discouraging element to farmers and a big contributor to food insecurity in Africa. And this is an area we would like our Arab partners to join us in addressing. Furthermore, inadequate rural infrastructure makes food transport difficult and subsequently costly and unaffordable to the majority of the population. Again, this is an area we would be interested to encourage Arab investors to venture in. In addition, our food processing capacities are also low to the extent that food losses are exacerbated and value addition is limited and our people are deprived of quality and safe food and this has especially affected our children whereby the rate of stunting remains high. This is yet another area where we would like to invite our Arab agro-industry investors to consider especially processing nutritive diets and I want to emphasise this as a Member of the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition.
Owing to these and related constraints, Africa currently imports nearly US$40 billion worth of food annually. That is why we are emphasizing investment including foreign direct investment in the entire agricultural value chain so that we exploit fully our agricultural potential, minimize post harvest losses, add value to our agricultural products through processing and improve marketing through agribusiness thereby, saving our foreign exchange, also increasing employment especially of the youth and creating wealth or combating poverty.
Besides crop agriculture, Africa also offers extraordinary potential in the livestock sector for food and leather industry but unfortunately many of our pastoralists have not benefitted optimally from this sector. We, therefore, welcome investors in livestock development, dairy and meat processing and leather value addition, among others, to boost this sector as well. Also investment in making water available in pastoralist communities to prevent unnecessary movements of animals that would otherwise spread diseases and reduce productivity.
I wish to draw your attention to the fact that Africa’s agriculture is predominantly rainfed and this is proving unsustainable in the wake of the climate change and climate variability that has occasioned unpredictable weather patterns. It is now imperative to invest in climate-smart agricultural technologies including irrigation considering that Africa currently uses only 3 per cent of its irrigation potential while demand for food is increasing with the rising population and urbanisation, among other mega trends. Water harvesting is another area we would like to promote. And by the way, Africa lags behind the rest of the world in the use of fertilisers to boost agricultural production and we are in the process of addressing this challenge. I chair the Governing Council of the African Fertilizer Financing mechanism (AFFM) that we are trying to capitalise and operationalise to contribute to the realisation of Africa’s agricultural transformation.
These are some of the areas that we would like to engage with you in taking forward so that Africa does not continue to only pride in holding 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land and yet having one of the highest numbers of people who are hungry and malnourished. As stated by Her Excellency Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission when she was addressing the 24th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the African Union last month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: ‘‘Our aspirations and the concrete programmes in Agenda 2063 are very clear: to diversify our economies and industrialise; to have a skills and entrepreneurial revolution, unleashing the creativity and energy of our young people, and to effect an agricultural and agro-processing transformation, so we can feed ourselves and contribute to feeding the world’’.
As you may be aware, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union Member States just last month adopted the Strategy and Roadmap to implement the Declaration that they adopted last year which was the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security where they committed themselves to ending hunger by 2025 through Accelerated Africa Agriculture Growth and Transformation. We look forward to your partnership in our pursuit of the goal of a food and nutrition secure and poverty free Africa that will also contribute to global food security needs.
Thank you.

Her Excellency, Fatma Vall Mint Soueinae Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Chairperson of the Executive Council.
Honorable Ministers Members of the Executive Council,
Your Excellency Carlos Lopez, Executive Secretary of the UN ECA,
Your Excellency Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission and Fellow Commissioners,
Honorable Members of the PRC,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Officials from the capitals of Member states
Representatives of the AU Organs and Leaders of the RECs
Invited Guests,
I welcome my Sister, Fatma Vall Mint Soueinae, the new Foreign Minister of Mauritania to this small, but ever-increasing number of women in the African Union.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the AU headquarters once more for the 26th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council. A very warm welcome to the new Honorable Ministers who have joined us and we look forward to working very closely with them. Since we see most of you for the first time this year, a very happy 2015, that this year will be better than the last and that all your wishes are fulfilled through all our efforts.

The Annual report on the activities of the Commission in 2014 has been submitted for your consideration. The report highlights the work of the Commission on Agenda 2063 and steps undertaken, with the RECs and Member states, to accelerate continental integration and realize the aspirations of the peoples for a united, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its people and acting as a dynamic force in global affairs.
After two years of consultations, with civil society, the Diaspora, the citizens, experts and planners, governments of Member States, the RECs and AU organs, we are presenting Agenda 2063 for adoption by this Summit. We will also report on the work in progress with regards to the first Agenda 2063 10-year plan so that it can be ready for adoption at the June Summit.
Soon after the Summit we shall convene a meeting of the RECs, sectoral experts, civil society and planners from Member states, to do more work on the 10-year plan as well as the process of integration and domestication of Agenda 2063 in national and regional development plans.
The work on the 10-year Plan means a concerted shift towards focusing on implementation of this continental vision. A number of critical issues arise from this, which we would like to bring to the attention of the Executive Council.
Firstly, as mandated by Malabo, we have done work on the Agenda 2063 flagship projects, which will be covered in the report of the Bahir Dar Ministerial Follow-up committee. These flagship integration projects - such as the Single Aviation Market; the Grand Inga Dam and other energy projects, the Pan African University; the high-speed rail and road network project; Pan e-Network, the Continental Free Trade Area, the African passport and the Commodities strategy, the Malabo Plan on Agriculture - should form the basis of this 10 year plan – and must signal decisive movement in areas of continental priority.
The centrality of human development and security in all of this cannot be over-estimated, as we are learning the hard lessons from the Ebola Virus Outbreak on the need to have resilient public health systems, and for integrated responses.
Secondly, we will review the capacity required for the implementation of Agenda 2063, through a study led by the African Capacity Building Foundation. This includes the institutional capacities required by Member states, RECs and the AU, as well as civil society. It will look at the broader African human resource context: the technical, professional and other skills - but especially in the areas of science, technology, engineering, research, project management and innovation - required for the implementation of the various flagship project and our vision as a whole.
In the areas where we have skills deficits, we will have to take continental and regional approaches, such as we are doing through the Pan African University, our focus on virtual education and also draw on skills from our Diaspora. We will continue engagements with the African university, vocational and private sectors on these issues, such as at the upcoming Higher Education Summit in Dakar in March this year.
Thirdly, we must assess the institutional appropriateness of the current AU structures, processes and working methods for the implementation of Agenda 2063. Work has started on a comparative study between the AU and other similar regional organisations. In addition, we must also look at rationalization of work between the AU Commission, the NEPAD Agency and the RECs, so that we have more efficient division of labour and stronger complementarity in the implementation of Agenda 2063. Of course, we must even look at our working methods, how the RECs participate as building blocks of integration in how they participate in AU meetings, and we must look at this in our closed session.
Fourthly, integration remains central to our continental vision. We are encouraged by ongoing initiatives within and across regions to accelerate infrastructure development, and agreements implemented on free trade zones or the free movement of people and goods. I must commend ECOWAS and the East African Community in this regard who are leading the way, and other RECs should be accelerating their processes.
We will present a comprehensive report on the State of Integration in the context of Agenda 2063 to the June summit for discussions, with lessons from the different RECs, as well as areas requiring concerted push.
Fifthly, we shall continue to highlight domestic resource mobilisation as a critical success factor - to ensure predictable funding of our institutions and programmes, ranging from funding of elections, integration, project preparations for infrastructure and implementation of the African Mining Vision, to mention a few. The report of the Ministers of Economy and Finance on alternative sources of funding the AU will serve before this Summit and our sister Min. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will present this as Chair of the CAMEF. In addition, the upcoming meeting of the Ministers of Economy and Finance meeting in March will look at the broader issue of funding for Agenda 2063. Later this year, Ethiopia will host the global conference on development financing, and our Ministers of Economy and Finance will also prepare for this.
Excellencies, as we prepare for the implementation of Agenda 2063 at all levels, as governments, RECs and civil society, we have to pay attention to the risks (both internal and external) that we face on the road. The detailed Agenda 2063 Transformation Framework mentions some, including the grave risk if we fail to silence the guns and neutralize the threats of terrorism, intolerance and extremism; the risk of slow movement on integration, infrastructure and diversification of our economies due to both internal and external challenges; and the largest risk, failure to finance our development. It is not enough to identify the risks, we must go the next step to plan what to do to mitigate these risks, and we will therefore prepare for a discussion at the next session of the Executive Council on this.
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlmen
Population projections estimate that by the time we celebrate the first centenary of the founding of the OAU/AU, Africa will be the most youthful continent in the world (and Im sure most of us will be there during these celebrations!).
I have said many times before: these projections are an opportunity to urgently scale up investments in our young people to prepare them to assume a leadership role in all aspects of human endeavor, especially in entrepreneurship, science, innovation, technology, in politics.
This can be achieved. Take the internet. Africa’s young women and men have wholly embraced the revolution in the technologies of information. Many have become innovators and entrepreneurs in their own right. Across the continent, opening an internet school or a cyber-café, or developing a mobile application, has become the first order of business for many young entrepreneurs as well as a job provider for many more looking for a job.
Unfortunately, the youth has set to us that one of their biggest handicaps is access to startup capital, and internet services across the continent remain a serious obstacle to the development of this predominantly youth-led sector. There are pockets of success, but we need to do much more.
We must do more and better for African youth. Our report on the activities of the Commission outlines a number of measures for your consideration, including increasing investments in education in science and technology, skills development through vocational training, and better treatment of teachers, not to mention lowering the cost of access to internet services and expanding internet coverage to enable virtual education in order to massify access to further and higher education. This Summit should also consider other recommendations from the Ougadougou+10 process.
These measurers aimed at giving our young people a stake in their countries and continent, are the surest way of tackling the problem of African youth migration and trafficking, and them falling prey to extremism. Trafficking is just the modern form of slavery.
On the whole, there is much that remains to be done on the socio-economic front. But I am encouraged by the progress we are realized, particularly on some of the key Millennium Development Goals, including access to education, the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, reduction of poverty and progress on gender equality. But more needs to be done.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The AU efforts for peace, stability and the consolidation of democracy and good governance are also paying off. Through the African Peace and Security Architecture, working closely with Member states, the RECs and international partners, we were able to address crisis situations before they become entrenched and took too many lives of our people.
However, I am deeply horrified by the tragedy Boko Haram continue to inflict on our people, kidnapping young girls from school, torching villages, terrorizing whole communities and the senseless killing. We should all declare this state of affairs as unacceptable!
Furthermore, what started off as a localized criminal gang is now spreading into West and Central Africa. We must act now, and act collectively against this progressing threat. We must work diligently towards silencing the guns by the year 2020, and nip in the bud this threat to African prosperity, peace and human security.
I thank the Government of Chad for its readiness to assist Cameroon in this fight. The Commission has accelerated its ongoing consultations with member states, the RECs and other partners on how to deal with Boko Haram and it will be on the agenda of the Peace and Security Council, who will report to Summit.
This is not just a threat to some countries. It is a threat to the whole continent. It is a global threat that must be met globally, but with Africa in the lead.
Let me take this opportunity to again express our deep appreciation to our peacekeepers, our men and women in uniform across the continent, for their heroic contribution to peace and to service of their continent and its people. We should have a monument for our AU peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the duty of the peoples of the continent. I hope this can be discussed and that we should have a decision.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Despite the challenges, we should not loose sight of the progress in the areas of democracy, good governance and human rights. Throughout 2014, we had generally peaceful elections and successful transitions. And where contestations took place, they usually followed the legal framework and confined themselves to the courts.
The outcome of these electoral processes reinforces our conviction that the involvement of the African citizenry in owning and taking responsibility for their destiny is critical to the realization of Agenda 2063 and a prosperous and peaceful Africa.
Excellencies,

After some initial setbacks, our collective fight against the Ebola Virus Disease gathered momentum and is showing results.
I wish to express my profound gratitude to the Heads of State and Government, to this Council, the RECs, civil society organizations, and, especially, fellow Africans for their positive, rapid and effective response to the call for African health workers to be deployed in the three Ebola-affected countries. So far, over 800 medical and health professionals in the field in the three countries and will scale that up to 1000. It is paying off, as we begin to see the decline in mortality and infections.
We must pay special tribute to young men and women that volunteered in the AU-ASEOWA and ECOWAS mission in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, as a demonstration the spirit of Pan Africanism and solidarity. The first volunteers were individuals, who gave up their jobs and volunteers.
My thanks also go to the captains of industries and business leaders from various parts of Africa and businesses operating on the continent. We are working closely with them to mobilise resources to keep our health workers on the ground until the countries are officially Ebola-free, and in the medium to longterm help build health resilience through the African Centre for Disease Control.
We also thank the telecommunication companies on the continent in December 2014 launched an SMS campaign with us aimed at reaching out to ordinary Africans and seeking their contribution to Africa’s fight against Ebola. The campaign is going well and is now running in over thirty of our Member states. This is a campaign that every single African country should be part of. I don’t understand why it is only thirty something and not fifty something. We therefore call on the countries that have not joined yet, to become part of this African solidarity effort and enable African citizens to contribute.
I also want to pay tribute to the Commission and the Commissioner, the AU staff, ECOWAS and General Julius Oketta, who leads THE AU-ASEOWA efforts. I also thank the UNECA and ADB, who are part of all our efforts on Ebola.
Honorable Ministers,
Looking ahead, our theme for 2015 is the Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Agenda 2063. Over the last few days, in a series of pre-Summit meetings of women, with participation from civil society, our Ministers of Gender, gender focal points of RECs, our partners in the ADB, UNECA, UN Women and UNDP met to consider the theme and the Beijing plus 20 process.
They discussed the practical actions required to ensure that during this focus year, we make a difference in the lives of many African women, through practical initiatives in agriculture and agro-processing; science, technology, innovation and education; business development and financial inclusion; health and reproductive rights, and our campaigns against gender-based violence, sexual violence in conflicts and child marriages.
We must also do more this year to increase the representation of women in government, in the judiciary and other public and private institutions and their participation at the tables in peace negotiations.
I am quite sure that although this is a year of women, it is about our entire communities. That is why we look to you, our dear Brothers to ensure that we work together to achieve objectives of the year.
After this year, we must really have an irreversible momentum towards the emancipation of women on the continent.
Excellencies,
We are concluding the Year of Agriculture and Food Security, with a much better sense of what needs to be done: including improving women’s access to land; provision of rural infrastructure such as roads, irrigation; access to agricultural inputs, markets and finances for especially small holder farmers; modernization of agricultural tools and mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
Yesterday, we attended the 3rd Conference of Parties of the African Risk Capacity, and it is an example that we should look at as part of our success stories. Firstly, this is pooled resources of Member states to address an African problem; secondly they work to strengthen capacity in Member states; and thirdly they have already started paying out to Member states facing drought this year.
The global negotiations on the post-2015 agenda, on climate change and sustainable development goals make this a critical year for Africa, and we must ensure that we remain united and take forward our common African positions.
IN CONCLUSION
We take inspiration from the resolve we have collectively demonstrated in the responses of our people in the formulation of Agenda 2063, in the fight against Ebola, and in the ongoing and collective work to build a better life for all Africans.
During our Emergency Executive meeting in September, the Minister of Sudan suggested that the Commission gives some of its budget to the Ebola affected countries, we pointed towards the difficulties. But it made us thought what we can do, and thus the Commission convened the Business roundtable on Ebola in November 2014 and started the SMS campaign with mobile network operators.
The Commission takes seriously your suggestions, and we look forward to another vibrant and fruitful session of this 26th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council.

STATEMENT OF HER EXCELLENCY DR. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI ZUMA, CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION, TO THE OPENING OF THE SESSION OF THE PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AFRICAN UNION

(PRESENTED BY H.E. MR ERASTUS MWENCHA, DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION)
ADDIS ABABA, 23RD JANUARY 2015.

Your Excellency, Mr. YaluyaAbdlah, Chairperson of the Permanent Representatives Committee,

Your Excellencies Members of the Permanent Representatives Committee,

Your Excellencies Commissioners of the African Union,

Distinguished Invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Chairperson, HE NkozasanaDlamini Zuma, it is a distinct honor for me to address you at the start of the 29th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee. I salute you and wish you all a prosperous 2015 and successful policy organs meetings. You have, as in the past, a crowded agenda that spans all areas of our Union endeavors.

Your role as the clearing house and preparatory body for the meetings of the policy organs of the African Union is not only important in itself, but is also vital to the success of the meetings of the higher policy organs. The more adequate your preparations are, working together with the Commission, the greater the success of the meetings of the Executive Council and those of the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government. The PRC and the Commission are, therefore, literally speaking, the foundation stones for the African Union. The more effectively we work together, the stronger the foundation.

Excellencies, in his Synthesis Report on the Post-2015 Development Agenda entitled, “ The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Environment”, the Secretary-General of the United Nations refers to the year 2015 as being at a “historic crossroads”. Destiny has brought us to this crossroad where we can no longer afford the time for missed opportunities nor the luxury of multiple choices. We must move only in one direction —and that is upwards! And we must do so with the resolute determination to succeed.

For a long time since our independence, Africa was inexorably sucked downwards into the vortex of poverty, disease, despair, ignorance and squalor. We became the Continent that others derisively referred to as “The Hopeless Continent”. However, in the last decade or so, the tide started to change as Africa has begun to rebrand itself and has transformed its image as the next frontier for development and prosperity.

This progress has been expressed in terms of the expanding realm of peace and stability, the growth and consolidation of democracy, good governance, human rights and respect for the rule of law, as well as economic growth averaging 5 percent per annum that the Continent has witnessed over the decade.

We should not, however, be lured into laxity and a false sense of comfort. We are still far from reaching the commanding heights, and powerful winds are still blowing in our faces. Our Continent is still blighted by conflicts; poverty is still widespread; disease and ignorance are still prevalent; and far too many of our youth remain unemployed. Industrial capacity of the continent is low partly due to limited intercontinental infrastructure, fragmented markets and inadequate skills. We continue to lose too many of our people who, out of despair, seek to cross dangerous seas in search of opportunity in Europe. Even for those who make it, many find themselves victims of abuse, drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and all manner of indignities visited upon them.

There is much to do and no time to waste. That is why this year, Africa must fight to ensure that its voice is heard, and its interests secured during the inter-governmental negotiations on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the on going negotiations on climate change. That is why it is important to launch the African Agenda 2063 framework at this summit and proclaim to the whole world that Africa has come of age, and to to implement the aspirations of our people.

Consultations on the first Ten-Year Implementation Plan for Agenda 2063 will have been completed by June and the adoption of the Plan by the June/July summit will signal the beginning of Africa’s march towards its destiny as an, “integrated, prosperous and peaceful continent, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena”.

I repeat, Excellencies: There is no time to waste! We need to act now and take the difficult decisions that need to be taken to put Africa on Solid foundation towards self-propelled, sustainable and irreversible progress. While the rest of the world may count their future in terms of decades, Africa’s future is now! It is now that we must decide on how to finance our own development, using our own resources. We must move forward to implement our flagship projects including the CFTA, the Railway and the Yamasukrou Decision to ease air travel within Africa and save our fledgling aviation industry from collapsing.

In the future we see, there will be no external benefactors that will routinely come to our rescue during moments of our greatest need. In the future we see, a private sector willing and ready to sacrifice and do whatever it takes to sustain Africa’s development; to fight for Africa’s space in the competitive international economy. It will be a private sector that we shall grow ourselves.

YourExcellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen;

As you are aware, we are just concluding “The Year of Agriculture”, during which period important strides have been made in reaffirming our commitments, and internalizing lessons learned under the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development on what needs to be done, as we strive to revitalize and modernize this critical sector to Africa’s food and nutritional security and development. There is discernible growth in investment in agriculture and expansion in output. The African Risk Capacity is now operational.

We are proclaiming this year as “The Year of Women Empowerment” because of the urgent need to address the issues relating to the status of women in Africa, and the critical role women can play in the survival and development of our Continent. In so doing, we hope to galvanize energies, actions, advocacy, resources and policy focus to achieve concrete, measurable targets. This will also enable Africa to plan together and prepare adequately for the Beijing Plus 20 Global Conference on the Status of Women.

In November 2013, when the Chairperson addressed you, she indicated that it was our intention to focus our efforts in 2014 on institutional reform of the Commission. The process has been on going. In this regard, the Commission has worked hard to improve corporate governance and accountability, improve performance delivery, enhance financial sustainability and improve our stakeholder management.
1. Some of the key areas worth noting are
a. Review and introduction of key policies including
i. Travel policy
ii. Enterprise risk policy
iii. Fraud and anti-Corruption policy and
iv. The Code of Ethics and anti-Harassment
Furthermore, we are looking at updating, strengthening and tightening staff rules and various operational manuals to ensure we create a conducive work environment for performance Delivery.
b. We have also reconstituted management advisory bodies including the grievances panel, the Tribunal and the Training and capacity development committee.
c. The comprehensive review of the institutional structure has been initiated with the purpose of transforming the Commission in a full results oriented institution capable of supporting and facilitating the continental integration and Agenda 2063. We hope to provide you with further details of this all important exercises by June.
d. In the area of financial management, new financial rules and regulations have been introduced to streamline efficient use of financial resource. The IPSAS (international Public Service Accounting Standards) have also been introduced to ensure that financial management meets international stands of accountability and probity. Our internal and external audit framework has been revamped. Overall there was marked improved in budget implementation with receipt of 57% in assed contributions and 59% execution rate on the approved budget and 81% against funds released.
e. The establishment of the AU foundation as a foundation for mobilizing funds for continental development is also a key novelty.

We are developing a communications strategy to more effectively inform and engage our people about the programmes and policies of the Union. We are also conducting a comparative analysis of other international inter-governmental institutions to learn best practices to seek to ensure that all organs of the Union operate effectively.

YourExcellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

The foregoing are but just a few of the activities of the agenda before you.

I cannot end my remarks, however, without referring to the work we have jointly and severely done to contain the Ebola crisis in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It is not an exaggeration to say that Ebola is perhaps the greatest challenge that Africa has faced in the last decade.

You will recall the world-wide panic that followed the Ebola outbreak, leading to closure of borders from some neighboring countries and travel bans and/or restrictions by many countries around the world against not only the citizens of these three countries, but almost for those of the entire West Africa. The Extra-ordinary Joint Executive Council/Ministers of Health meeting convened by the AUC in September 2014 went a long way in calming the fears, stopping the border closures and relaxing travel restrictions for citizens from Ebola affected countries.

We established the Africa Support to Ebola in West Africa (ASEOWA) as a dedicated mechanism through which to coordinate all assistance efforts in the fight against Ebola. We realized that response to Ebola was slow and concentrated in building health infrastructure. Apart from Cuba, which pledged health workers at the time, few others did.

We, therefore, decided that the AU should concentrate on mobilizing health workers, as well as resources for deploying and supporting them in the field to assist the few available national health workers of the affected countries. Our business people heeded the call for help and, at a meeting called by the Commission in November, 2014, pledged over $30 million (USD) to support the deployment of the over 800 health workers currently deployed to the three countries affected and under ASEOWA.

In this regard, we thank most sincerely all the countries and entities that have so generously contributed to the Ebola effort in the form of health workers and infrastructure, funding, equipment, solidarity and advocacy. Equally, I would like to thank the business people, the artistes and the ordinary citizens who have contributed to the Ebola effort. I also want to salute and thank our volunteers, the health workers. These heroines and heroes epitomize the very best of our continent in coming together in solidarity to address common threats.

Excellences, while some progress has been made in containing the virus, Ebola is still very much with us and the health institutional frameworks and capacity remains fragile. We cannot relent in our fight against it. We cannot afford to let our guard down. I have no doubt, however, that working together -- African governments, partners, the private sector and our citizens-- we shall defeat Ebola.

Allow me to conclude by wishing you fruitful deliberations and to remind you, once again, important decisions must be made at this summit: We need to summon all the courage and political will to do the right thing!

Shukranigizila,
Obrigado,
Machos gracias,
Merci beaucoup,
Asante sana.
Ameseginalehu

I thank you very much
Dates:
Jan.23.2015