The Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union held its 35^th Ordinary Session on the 5^th and 6^th of February 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Discussions were held on several issues to meet the Agenda 2063 Aspirations for the “Africa We Want”:

1. Theme of the Year 2022

The Assembly endorsed 2022 as the African Union Year of Nutrition under the theme “Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on The African Continent: Strengthening Agro-Food Systems, Health and Social Protection Systems for the Acceleration of Human, Social and Economic Capital Development”.

2. Ending Gender Based Violence.

The Assembly adopted the Kinshasa Declaration and Call for Action of the African Union Heads of State on Positive Masculinity in Leadership to End Violence Against Women and Girls.

3. Institutional Reforms of the African Union

The Assembly adopted the proposed reforms of the organizational structures of the AU Organs, Representational, Technical and Specialized Offices including the Secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Economic, Social & Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and the African Space Agency (AfSA)

4. The State of Peace and Security in Africa

The leaders condemned the unconstitutional changes of governments in AU Member States, while calling on every Member State to uphold constitutionalism and fully respect all AU shared values, normative and legal instruments, particularly the African Union Constitutive Act and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.

5. COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Recovery Efforts

The Assembly commended effective responses undertaken by the AU COVID-19 Champion, the AUC and Africa CDC and acknowledged that Africa’s socio-economic recovery from the pandemic depends on the continent’s ability to turn the current challenges into viable opportunities including initiating and expanding local manufacturing enterprises for all commodities required in pandemic response and particularly vaccines.

Requested the APRM in collaboration with AU Organs and RECs to undertake a Governance Gap Analysis as an assessment tool to support participating Member States in political transition and affirmed that the Africa Governance Report shall be developed by the APRM in collaboration with AGA and presented to the Assembly every two (2) years

5. Domestic Health Financing

The leaders lauded the progress made by AUDA-NEPAD in the preparation of a Regional Health Financing Hub (RHFH) and the progress made in in the development of the Africa Scorecard on Domestic Financing for Health that will help with financial planning for the health sector

6. African Union Financial Institutions.

Urged for signing and ratification of the legal instruments establishing the African Monetary Fund and African Investment Bank; and and, in the case of the African Central Bank, advocate for rapid attainment of macroeconomic convergence to lead Africa towards Pan-African economic and monetary union.

7. Impact of climate change

The Assembly welcomed the agreement for developed country parties to double their collective provision of climate finance for adaptation to developing country parties from 2019 levels by 2025, and urged developed country parties to provide additional climate finance for adaptation before COP27.

8. Trade and Integration.

The Assembly noted the progress achieved since the start of trading under the AfCFTA on 1 January 2021, and directed the AfCFTA Secretariat to implement the AfCFTA Private Sector Engagement Plan.

The Assembly also held deliberations on other key issues: Migration; Adoption of Legal instruments; The 4^th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting; The Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification; AU Humanitarian Summit and Pledging Conference; and Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism; and Key Appointments.

For details of all the Decisions and Declarations adopted by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government as well as all the appointments, click here.