Ezulwini, Swaziland, 16 July, 2014: African Union Commission Chairperson, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has arrived in Ezulwini, Swaziland to participate in the Seventh Conference of African Ministers in charge of integration (COMAIV11), being held under the theme, infrastructure and integration in Africa. She was met on arrival by the Commissioner of Economic Affairs Dr Anthony Mothae Maruping, accompanied by the Director Dr Rene Kouassi N’Guettia.

The ministerial conference is taking place on 17 and 18 July 2014, and its key outcomes will be; concrete recommendations on the theme of the conference: the way forward regarding the African Regional Integration Fund; adoption of the regional integration index as Africa’s M&E framework of assessing the progress in the integration agenda; and a ministerial declaration highlighting among others, the strategies and actions to speed up infrastructure development to support regional integration

Dr. Dlamini Zuma will be spurring the Ministers to take more practical steps to speed up Africa’s continental integration agenda. She will be urging the Ministers to accelerate the implementation of the 16 priority projects discussed during the Dakar Financing Summit that held last June in Dakar, Senegal.

The ministerial conference follows a three-day technical meeting of experts who discussed a number of topics in preparation for the ministerial meeting; among which were the 2014 report on the status of integration in Africa; the study report of the African integration fund; the African regional integration index; the report on implementation of the COMAI VI recommendations; the Common African Position (CAP) on Post 2015 Development Agenda; and the Africa Agenda 2063.

34 member states of the African Union attended the experts meeting, in addition to three regional economic communities and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), representatives of the African private sector and civil society.

The meeting also constituted its bureau as follows: Chair: Swaziland (Southern Africa)
First Vice Chair; Ghana (West Africa): Second Vice Chair; DRC (Central Africa): Third Vice Chair; Tunisia (North Africa): Rapporteur; Tanzania (East Africa).

Contact for confirmation or other media inquiries:
Mrs. Wynne Musabayana, Directorate of Information and Communication, African Union Commission, e-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org. Swazi tel: +26876800145.

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