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Opening Remarks by H.E. Mr. Erasrus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, on the Occasion of the 10th Annual eLearning Africa Conference, 20- 22 May 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Theme: “ENRICHING TOMORROW” DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, HONOURABLE MINISTERS, Your Excellencies, LADIES, GENTLEMEN, COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS,
It is a great honour for me to welcome you to the Headquarters of the African Union Commission, and to wish you a fruitful stay in the hospitable city of Addis Ababa. I AM DEEPLY IMPRESSED THAT SO MANY OF YOU HAVE TRAVELLED SO FAR - FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN FACT - TO ATTEND THIS CONFERENCE. YOUR PRESENCE HERE IS A TESTIMONY TO THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SUBJECT FOR THE FUTURE OF AFRICA AND I AM DELIGHTED THAT THE AFRICAN UNION HAS BEEN ABLE TO SUPPORT IT. The overall theme for the conference; “Enriching tomorrow” is most APPROPRIATE BECAUSE IT REFERS TO THE OPPORTUNITY AFRICA NOW HAS. IT REFLECTS the AU’s Agenda 2063, which is the continent's collective vision and roadmap for the next 50 years. This agenda rededicates its commitment to the enduring Pan African vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”
It is also gratifying to note that the 10th eLearning Africa conference will be seeking answers ABOUT how the fast-evolving Information and communication (ICT) revolution can be leveraged to enhance knowledge, expertise and abilities relevant for the future. This question perfectly resonates with one of the critical areas to be addressed by Agenda 2063, which seeks to catalyze an Education and Skills revolution and actively promote science, technology, research and innovation, with the ultimate aim of building knowledge, human resources, capabilities and skills for Africa’s future. But these lofty dreams are not going to be easily realized, unless we harness our current creative and innovative capacities. It is therefore RE-assuring that this conference is about the use of ICTs, with their vast opportunities and potential, in the generation and dissemination of knowledge that is almost limitless. ICTs remain a central stimulus of socio-economic development, and the future of our society is going to be determined significantly by the definitive strides and inroads we are able to make in harnessing new, creative technologies and innovation. The theme for this conference “Enriching Tomorrow”, is also pragmatic, as the question of ICT is AS MUCH one about the future, as it is about the present. For Africa, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are crucial for growth. They drive the dynamics of effective communications across the globe, and influence the trends of market development in the global economy. The ICT industry itself is at the centre of international commerce and production, engendering value for productivity, profits and income. ICTs are critical for skills acquisition, technological depth and diversification of economies – from construction to modern services, agriculture, education and finance. This doubled-edged appeal of ICT – as a driver of economic success and as a bona fide sector of its own – makes it fundamental for holistic growth in any nation. YOUR Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen: There is an abiding imperative for Africa to foster innovation and creative technologies as the basis for advancements in ICT and sustainable economic development. It is the duty of our governments, the private sector and all segments of our society, to participate actively in maximizing the use and application of ICTs to create competitive, knowledge economies, as well as economies of impetus. Such is the foundation of gainful capital in human resource development. I must also make reference to the practical efforts being undertaken by the African Union through the Commission, to facilitate and implement Africa’s collective aspiration for meaningful development underpinned by rapid transformations in science, innovation, research and technology-driven education. The Pan African University is a splendid example of the African Union’s resolve to revitalize technology and innovation, and position science education at the centre of the continent’s development agenda. This network of academic institutions iN a continent-wide program is already operational, with thematic hubs steering excellence in higher education across the continent. Again, realizing the infinite value of ICTs in education, the Commission has initiated the Pan African Virtual University, to expand the opportunities in higher education for the younger generation and maximize the expedient utility of modern ICTs. In addition, the African Union is looking at ICT’s in education holistically and, together with the Ethiopian Ministries of ICT, and Education, UNECA and other International Research and academic Institutes, IT has undertaken research to deliver technology based education at an early age. Technology based education and innovation, are the main drivers THAT WILL ENABLE US TO realizE Agenda 2063 and SO transform our continent. These initiatives, firmly anchored on the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA), represent hope and potential for the future generation of Africans. Under the STISA, the Commission will continue to pursue the elevation of Africa’s role in global research, technology development and transfer, innovation and knowledge production. Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen; I implore you to use the following hours and days to consult, debate and deliberate on the pertinent question of how to tap Africa’s existing potential and mobilize its population towards an ICT revolution that will underlie our continent’s socio-economic development. Africa’s future lies in collective endeavor, and in what we have decided to make of ICTs – to usher in an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa. Thank you ALL for your attention! PLEASE HAVE A WONDERFUL AND INSPIRING CONFERENCE!

Statement Delivered by H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl

Commissioner for Trade and Industry

African Union Commission

At The Meeting of AU Ministers of Trade

14-15 May 2015, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Opening Statement for the Meeting of AU Ministers of Trade
By H.E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl
Commissioner for Trade and Industry
African Union Commission

1. Excellencies,
2. Distinguished Delegates,
3. Ladies and Gentlemen
On behalf of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA, I would like to welcome you to this dedicated Meeting of AU Ministers of Trade and to thank you for your commitment in moving the CFTA process forward.

I would also like to thank the Senior Officials and trade experts from Member States for their hard work over the past 6 days in fine-tuning critical documents for the launch of the CFTA negotiations which is exactly a month away.

Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are here today, in the last stretch, to come to an agreement on strategic principles that will guide negotiations leading to the establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA), which is as you know, a flagship project of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

Since 2011 following the Kigali meeting, tremendous work by yourselves, your Commission and its partners, has gone into preparations for the forthcoming launch. That work led to demonstrating to our Heads of State and Government that the time was ripe for Africa to move its regional agenda forward, and hence in January 2012 the historic and bold decision was taken. That was possible because our leaders believe in the potential of the CFTA to unleash substantive benefits for Africa’s socio-economic growth and development. Its establishment will significantly boost intra-African trade and investment, making it easier to move goods, services, and people around the continent. It will support sustainable development, create jobs and empowering women, as well as strengthening the geopolitical position of Africa vis-à-vis the rest of the world. .

Excellences, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we prepare for the CFTA negotiations, allow me to say that the Commission is fully cognizant of the diversity of Member States – some are landlocked countries, others small island developing states, a majority less developed economies, a number of fragile economies and others resources rich. All of them bring enriching attributes that are vital to the CFTA processes. But this diversity also brings with it some challenges in forging common positions – hence the purpose of negotiations. Trust me, the CFTA negotiations will not be easy, will consume enormous amounts of our energies, efforts and resources – financial, time and human. But with good will, nothing is impossible especially that there is no alternative option to reach our development objectives. I would urge that we engage in the common spirit of “Together as one AFRICA” – where disagreements are tolerated, agreements can be struck and compromises can be made for the common and collective good without compromising the endearing unity that our continent so strongly needs.

You will recall that CAMOT 9, held in December 2014 agreed on the Institutional Arrangements for the CFTA negotiations and that Your Excellencies further directed that technical preparations be undertaken together with the mobilization of technical and financial resources to enable the Commission to facilitate the negotiations for the CFTA.

I am happy to announce that, in response to your request, the Commission has secured approximately US $ 18 million for the period 2016-2017, excluding in-kind technical assistance from different Partners (the African Trade Policy Centre, the Trade Advocacy Fund, etc.)

We remain grateful to our generous partners who have stepped in to support this critical agenda.

Allow me to seize this opportunity however, to strongly urge Member States to support the establishment of the CFTA by making provision for resources for its negotiations. This must be an African owned and led agenda, and it does not reflect well for it to be entirely financed by our generous partners.

Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to mention that, among the most important factors for the success of the CFTA are:-
• The diversification of our economy through inclusive and sustainable industrial development and value addition to our raw materials.
• Paying a particular attention to harmonize and support the standards and quality of our products for market access and enhancing their competitiveness.

• Moving forward with the implementation of the BIAT Action Plan, especially the cluster on Trade Facilitation as well as the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement

Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
I also believe that it is critical that we consider the establishment of the CFTA not in isolation, but within the context of ongoing developments around the globe. The multilateral trading system is changing. Many of the largest countries in the world, and Africa’s most significant trading partners, are moving towards the establishment of Mega-Regional Trade Agreements (MRTAs). These include the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Research and the impact of these agreements on Africa: We will be better positioned and better off if we move to establish the CFTA as quickly as possible.

Since we last met, there have been important developments related to the reauthorization of AGOA as well. In January, a delegation led by the Honourable Minister of Lesotho travelled to the United States to lobby on AGOA. Just last month, a high-level delegation, which included Her Excellency the Chairperson, the Deputy Chair, and several Commissioners, including myself, met with Secretary of State John Kerry and Members of the US Congress, US Businesses and Civil Society, and of course the African Group in Washington, to further engage on this same agenda. I can tell you that currently a bill has been introduced to Congress, which includes an extension of 10, rather than 15 years, as we had requested. It also includes some new provisions towards improvements and some less favourable for some countries. I believe it is critical that your meeting discuss and come up with a common understanding on this new bill.

As you are aware, this meeting also represents the last opportunity we may have to meet before the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC10), set to take place in December in Nairobi. We rejoice that this event will be hosted in an African country. We should use this unique opportunity to strategize on the role of Africa within the multi-lateral trading system, including recent developments at the WTO. It is important that, as this will be the first WTO Ministerial Conference to be held on the Continent, Africa must come out with one strong voice and position on issues of critical importance to the continent, and that we do our best to ensure that this is one of the main outcomes of MC10.

Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

While several important and unresolved issues remain after 5 days of thoughtful deliberations by Senior Officials and trade experts, it is your responsibility as Ministers of Trade to address the pending issues, finalise the critical documents towards the launch of the negotiations and guide the June Summit accordingly through a draft decision and declaration.

Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish you all fruitful deliberations over the next two days and I thank you for your kind attention.

END

AUC Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha and AU Commissioners
Dr. Abdullah Hamdok, Deputy Executive Secretary of the UNECA
General Secretary of COMESA, Dr. Sindiso Ngwenya, and of General Secretary of the EAC Dr. Richard Sezibera
Executive Secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation, Prof Emmanuel Nnadozie
Representatives of the African Development Bank
Representatives of the other Regional Economic Communities
Representatives of the Nepad Coordination Agency
AU Commission Directors and Staff
Ladies and Gentlemen

The regular Coordination meetings between the Regional Economic Communities, the building blocks for integration, and the continent’s three premier institutions, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa, is an important working mechanism, to jointly strategise and check on progress on our common mission – the integration and development of the continent.
Since we last met in December 2014 in Sandton, Johannesburg a number of important developments have taken place.
Firstly, the Ebola crisis in West Africa at the time was still raging, and we reported to you about the plans to upscale the deployment of African health workers through ASEOWA. AU Member states and regions contributed to the deployment of over 800 health workers.
We can now see the progress made, with Liberia having reached Ebola-free status a few days ago, and Sierra Leone and Guinea both reported the lowest weekly rates of infection in 2015.
We will stay the course until all three are Ebola free as we are also helping the countries to restart their health services.
We have a plan, discussed with the three countries, of drawing down ASEOWA, but we must once again thank our Member states, especially countries of East, Central, Southern and West Africa, that contributed the bulk of the health workers.
The fight against Ebola is an example what we can achieve if we work together, especially between the RECs and AUC. We are also working on the operationalization of the ACDC, building on existing capacities and experience we gained.
We have also seen the tragedies of the ongoing deaths of migrants in the Sahel and the Mediterranean sea and the up flare of xenophobic violence in South Africa. It is in my view that Africans are not xenophobia, but these are about the fight over scarce resources and opportunities. It is the same reason that makes the Mediterranean becoming a mass grave for Africans.
These events are a call action for us to renew our efforts to create opportunities for all African people, especially our young men and women, to have access to economic opportunities, and to safety and human security.
In particular, it is a clarion call to be decisive about industrialization and value-addition, about agro-processing and about intra-African trade and investments. We therefore look forward to the Tripartite meeting, to the launch of the Continental Free Trade negotiations in June this year and to the Africa Economic Platform dialogue we are convening in August with business and academia.
Excellencies, unless we invest in the African people, unless we stop exporting jobs along with the raw materials that leave our shores; our people will continue to follow these jobs, using perilous routes in search of a better life.
Our Coordination meeting today will therefore discuss the 1st 10 Year plan of Agenda 2063, focusing on the priority areas we have identified such as skills, education and technology. Talking to our partners last week, asking the question “how is it that Europe (and Japan) are spending billions of dollars on robotic research to replace human labour, whilst hundreds of Africans are dying on their shores. Why not help to skill our young people, and they can then work their as skilled workers in these countries.”
In this context, the empowerment of women and young people remain central, and since we are celebrating 2015 as the Year of Women, looking at the concrete actions to change the lives of African women and girls everywhere.
Excellencies
We have asked the African Capacity Building Foundation to do a study on the capacities needed to implement Agenda 2063, and our Finance, Economy and Integration Ministers in March this year looked at the financing of Agenda 2063.
The Nepad Coordination Agency is convening a technical meeting shortly to take forward the recommendations from the Report on Illicit Flows.
We have on the agenda of this meeting the issue of the roles and responsibilities, and the division of labour between the AUC, the Nepad Agency and the RECs, so that we can optimize implementation and coordination. This is a critical issue in our quest not only for integration, but also for effectively taking forward our agenda. We need a dynamic and open discussion on this matter.
We will report on progress on the Agenda 2063 flagship projects, that we were mandated to explore and take forward.
Furthermore, we are going to assist the 12 of our Member states who asked us to help with the domestication of Agenda 2063.
We remained determined that by 2020 we shall have silenced the guns. To do this, both the AUC and the RECs need to take bold steps, addressing the root causes of conflicts. There will always be conflicts, but it should not be solved through the barrel of the gun. We must have early warning systems, and bold mechanisms to deal with them before they resort to guns.
There is something that really sits very heavy in my heart, and that is South Sudan. Yesterday was Mothers day, and our hearts go out to the women and children of South Sudan, with over 100,000 refugees forced to flee their motherland because of renewed fighting.
EAC will be meeting later this week on the situation in Burundi, which is of deep concern to all of us, to ensure a peaceful resolution.
Our journey towards 2063 is in progress.
I wish this meeting all success and look forward to robust deliberations.

Address by Mr. Joseph Chilengi, the Presiding Officer, Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) to the Pan-African Parliament Regional Parliamentary Meeting
for the Promotion of the Ratification, Domestication and Implementation of AU Legal Instruments
29 April – 1 May 2015

To begin with, I would like to thank the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) for extending the invitation to ECOSOCC to be part of this meeting. I would like, in particular, to express our appreciation to H.E. Bethel Amadi, the President of PAP for this hand of fellowship. The invitation underlines the need for AU organs to work together as a family to drive the integration and development agenda of our beloved African continent. The AU-ECOSOCC shares this spirit and the 2nd Permanent ECOSOCC General Assembly that I serve as the Presiding Officer would do all it can to consolidate and develop meaningful relations with the Pan-African Parliament in the service of Africa, our motherland.

I am gratified also that this meeting is taking place in Nigeria. Nigeria, through its recent elections, has provided a lesson on how to lead by example. Several prophets in the Western World and elsewhere predicted doom and chaos as a tributary of the just concluded elections in Nigeria. Nigeria proved them wrong as it always does. In so doing, it provided an object lesson in governance and democracy to “those who know Africa more than we know ourselves.” Nigeria taught everyone else that its democracy is nurtured and homegrown and propelled by its own needs and requirements. We are happy to be here because Nigeria is inherently Pan-African in its actions and inspiration. It welcomes, encourages and treat all Africans as its own citizens.

The objective of this meeting is the promotion of the ratification, domestication and implementation of AU legal instruments, including the Protocol of the Constitutive Act of the Union, the African Governance Platform as well as the Protocol to the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights. ECOSOCC perceives this focus as relevant to ensure that the Union and its Members are places where the rule of law and due process are respected. Significantly also, it should be a continent in which regard for laws provide protection to the Ordinary people against arbitrariness, persecution and indignity.

It is this context that the last segment of the projected discussion stresses dialogue with civil society organizations to ensure that the Africa we have and the Africa we want will be people-centric and people-driven. ECOSOCC as an organ of the African Union was specifically created to inspire and consolidate this agenda. Thus it is important that we are an essential component of the African conversations in this regard.

As we proceed to engage in these conversations, I would like to offer some counsel on the way forward. First, the conversations we intend to have must be free and frank on these matters. We have to measure how far we have come and how far we need to go and appropriate strategies and instruments for moving forward.

Secondly, our strategies must be erected on a stakeholder platform which recognizes what has to be done at different levels by different actors as well as how and in which way the various actors have to act in order to complement each other. There are things that must be done by our organizations at regional and sub-regional levels and others at the level of Member States, parliaments and civil society. Premium must be placed on defining roles for each actor as well as in defining how the activities of each actor can cement a wider objective that interrelates the different elements. Dialogue must pave way for precise role definition and concrete behavior.

Finally, in order to achieve each and all of these objectives, there is a need to make the African Union more accessible to the people. ECOSOCC carried out a continental sensitization program all over the African continent as part of the preparations for the recent elections into its 2nd Permanent General Assembly. We discovered in the process that the African Union is still very remote from the people it seeks to integrate. Its activities and programs are not widely disseminated. The decisions of the Assembly of Heads of States are not widely known in individual Member States.

This meeting highlights the need to change the situation so that African through the African Union can achieve auto-centred development. As part of this process, we in ECOSOCC propose to work with the Pan-African Parliament to ensure that each country’s parliament in the Union assign one week as an African Union parliamentary week to discuss the activities and program of the African Union. Member States allocate hard –earned resources to the Union. They need to assign a week of their proceedings to see what it is doing and whether it is cost-efficient. This process would also review its legal instruments and establish procedures for assimilating them into national contexts. The promotion and ratification of AU legal instruments would be an integral part of the exercise to make the AU an African people’s commonwealth.

On its own part, ECOSOCC would be establishing national ECOSOCC national ECOSOCC Chapters as grassroot apparatus for bringing the AU closer to and in alignment with the African people.

We look forward to working closely with the Pan-African parliament in this regard.

I thank you.