36^th AU Summit: Opening of the 42^nd Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council

From 15 to 16 february 2023, the African Union Commission (AUC) organized the forty second (42^nd ) Ordinary Session of the Executive Council at the African Union Headquarters at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. The official opening ceremony of the Session took place on 15 february 2023. It was opened in the presence of the leaders and officials of the African Union (AU) Commission, Ministers of African Union Member States, Heads of Organs and Offices of the African Union and Partners. The Government of Burundi was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation His Excellency Ambassador Albert Shingiro.

The forty second Ordinary Session of the Executive Council emphasized on the draft agenda, draft decisions, declarations and recommendations for consideration by the Heads of State and Government at their 36^th Ordinary Session of the Assembly, which was scheduled from february 18 to 19, 2023.

For two days, the ministers of foreign affairs and Authorities would deliberate on the various items on the agenda of the Executive Council, in particular; the examination of the report of the forty fifth Ordinary Session of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREP), held from 16 to 27 january 2023 at the headquarters of the African Union (AU) at Addis Ababa.

The session would also consider the annual report on the activities of the African Union and its organs, the report on the operationalization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Africa, the progress report on the establishment and operationalization of the African Medicines Agency. (AMA), the Annual Report on the implementation of the activities of the AU roadmap for the year 2022 on the theme of food, the Review of the policy brief and road of the theme of the year 2023 “Acceleration of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF)”, Report on the social and humanitarian situation (humanitarian situation and humanitarian agency), Evaluation report of the first ten-year implementation plan and the development of the second ten-year implementation plan for Agenda 2063.

Among the Highlights of the Executive Council Session would include the election of two judges of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfHDP), the election of six members of the African Union Advisory Council against Corruption (AU-ABC), the appointment of three Judges to the Administrative Tribunal of the African Union and the appointment of a member of the Board of Auditors of the African Union (AU), for a term of two years, 2022 and 2023.

In her speech, Her Excellency Mrs. Aissata Tall Sall, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, President of the Executive Council expressed her gratitude to the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia which gave them generous hospitality in Addis Ababa. She wished participants at the forty-second Ordinary Session a happy new year 2023 and expressed his wishes for a resilient, peaceful and prosperous Africa. He underlined that this new year 2023 begins on the African continent in a context still full of challenges from all points of view; terrorism continues to gain ground and the resurgence of unconstitutional changes of Government has led to complex political transitions in the countries affected. At the same time Africans are still suffering the adverse economic and social effects of the Covid 19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, climate change and the humanitarian situation in Africa posture equally pressing challenges.

With regard to the Covid-19 pandemic, Her Excellency Mrs Aissata Tall Sall, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, President of the Executive Council added that the threat persists, with still the risk of the emergence of new variants. Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) has maintained its recommendation for greater vigilance in the face of this particularly dangerous virus.

It was also an opportunity to salute, once again, the crucial role of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Africa in the fight against Covid-19 and the coordination of response actions against epidemics in Africa. In this same context, Her Excellency Mrs Aissata Tall Sall praised the notable progress made in the operationalization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Africa and the African Medicines Agency (AMA). Within the framework of pharmaceutical sovereignty, several Member States have already set up production industries for vaccines, medicines and biotechnological materials. Strengthening African solidarity, accentuating resilience measures. On the economic side, she added that the implementation of the conclusions of the two extraordinary Niamey Summits relating, respectively, to industrialization and economic diversification, and to the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF) will make it possible to relaunch African economies hard hit by the consequences of Covid-19 and, more recently, by those of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

Her Excellency Mrs Aissata Tall Sall, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, President of the Executive Council warmly thanked her colleagues for the unfailing support from which the Senegalese Presidency of the African Union has always benefited. She call on them to mark the beginning of an era in which Africa will, more than in the past, be listened to, consulted and respected. She said that the member states must rely on each other’s usual pragmatism for effective and fruitful deliberations.