In his remarks, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the role the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) played in promoting integration in the continent…reports Asian Lite News
The African Union (AU) opened its sixth mid-year coordination meeting in Accra, the capital of Ghana, calling for peace and solidarity in the continent.
The meeting on the theme of ‘Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century’ brought together the AU, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and the AU members, among some others.
In his remarks, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the role the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) played in promoting integration in the continent.
“The AfCFTA is obliged to become a lever that catalyses structural reforms which, in turn, will facilitate the creation of wealth, through the improvement of economic governance, the mobilisation of financing and human capital,” Faki said.
The chairperson further called on African countries to maximise the potential of the AfCFTA to make it an engine of growth and diversification of the economies to increase trade within the continent.
Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who opened the meeting, said that some regions in Africa are still being plagued by conflict, instability, and violence that hinder development and pose a threat to broader continental security.
The president therefore called on his African counterparts to work hard to find solutions to a myriad of conflicts on the continent.
The AU introduced its mid-year coordination meeting in 2017 as the principal forum to align the work of the AU and RECs and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda.
Nod for AI strategy
The executive council of the African Union (AU) has approved its Continental Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy and African Digital Compact to boost Africa’s digital development, an official said.
AU Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization Amani Abou-Zeid said this in an interview Friday during the 45th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, a prelude to its 6th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting, in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, reported Xinhua news agency.
“Our council approved the AU strategy for artificial intelligence and the strategy for using digital technologies, which will set the path for Africa’s use of digital technologies for development,” Abou-Zeid said.
These strategies would provide direction on the use of technology to find solutions to Africa’s challenges, help fast-track many projects and programmes, and guard against the unethical use of technology, she said.
“The technology must help us preserve our identity, preserve our languages and cultures, and be helpful rather than harm us,” the commissioner said.
The strategies would create an enabling environment for the development and use of digital technology, Abou-Zeid said, adding that the AU policy would guide the governments of various members to develop the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks for the sector.
“The strategies will help us create a single digital market and guide all sovereign countries on how to use digital technology to boost their development processes,” she said.
“There must be rules and regulations to punish the negative use of AI and digital technologies to prevent further abuse,” Abou-Zeid said, adding that seven African countries now have AI policies, but the continental body would like to see all members develop their policies.
Push for integration
Initiative by the AU Commission and AUDA-NEPAD in cooperation with African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat; the Africa CDC; the African Peer Review Mechanism; the Pan-African Parliament; and the Regional Economic Communities. The initiative is an AU Flagship Resource Mobilisation Programme for the acceleration of the implementation of Agenda 2063 Second Ten-Year Implementation Programme. The Programme is expected to be launched in 2025.
Underscoring the importance of continental integration and the effective coordination between the African Union and the regional economic commissions to address the economic, social and security challenges the continent faces, and which continues to negatively impact Africa’s development, H.E. Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, and Chair of the African Union called for better integration of national development plans into continental programmes.
“This ensures a better integration of the continent and promotes the uniqueness of its voice at the global level, particularly at the United Nations, the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, as well as at the G20, thus giving it the means to contribute to the articulation of global agendas on critical issues for Africa, such as the reform of the global financial architecture, international tax cooperation, reducing illicit financial flows, and actions for financing sustainable development.”
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