Addis Ababa, 22 February 2019: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, His Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat, yesterday received the United Kingdom Minister of State for Africa, Harriet Baldwin MP, at the African Union headquarters. The meeting was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding concerning a partnership between the African Union and the United Kingdom. Through this partnership, the two sides agreed to work together on a broad range of shared priorities in support of the African Union’s objectives for the Continent and a shared vision for a prosperous, secure and innovative future for Africa, tackling common challenges such as climate change, and making the most of opportunities such as increasing trade links and the dynamism of Africa’s youthful population.

The two sides agreed to strengthen resilience across the continent through continued co-operation in support of the African Union’s peace-making and peacekeeping role, and enhanced policy engagement. The two sides also committed to working closely in support of ongoing African-led efforts and shared priorities as they emerge, including in South Sudan and the Horn of Africa, the Sahel region, Lake Chad Basin and Libya.

To drive prosperity, the two sides will work to mobilise investments for Africa’s sustainable transformation. This includes the promotion of UK-Africa trade and investment, the African Continental Free Trade Area and action to harness the demographic dividend.

The two sides have agreed to invest in people and build opportunities to deliver a skilled workforce through shared work on education, science and technology and skills development to reap the benefits of increased stability and prosperity. The two sides recognised the importance of creating the conditions to allow full participation of women and disabled persons in our societies.

On migration and human mobility, in line with the recently-adopted Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that was adopted recently by the UN in Marrakech, Morocco, the two sides recognised the added value of this document to ensure that migration and human mobility in Africa is well managed both to migrants themselves and to host/origin countries for socio-economic development as per the AU Agenda 2063. The two sides will further work together to support initiatives that are aimed at preventing irregular migration including protection of victims of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.

The two sides agreed to work together to promote and protect an equitable and inclusive rules-based international system. This system ensures that countries and individuals have the freedom, security, justice and mechanisms to prosper, and includes co-operation on global issues such as climate change, human rights and serious organised crime. The UK recognises and supports the AU’s desire to find African solutions for African problems. To that end, the two sides underlined the importance of ongoing negotiations in New York on the use of UN-assessed contributions for AU-led Peace Support Operations authorised by the UN Security Council.

Finally, the two sides agreed to meet on an annual basis to assess progress with the partnership and to discuss common priorities and challenges. The Minister of State, in that regard, extended an invitation to the Chairperson of the AU Commission, who accepted to attend the inaugural high Level Dialogue between the African Union and UK to be held in London later in 2019.

For further information contact

Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@africa-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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