African leaders gathered this morning in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Abeba, for the African Union’s annual summit.
Foreign ministers from member countries and delegates from international organizations attended the 40th regular session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council.
The two-day conference is titled “Building Resilience in Nutrition on the African Continent: Accelerate Human Capital, Social, and Economic Development.”
Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union, said at the inaugural session in Addis Abeba this morning that the meeting would tackle vital topics that need the Union’s attention.
“As a commission, we need to put more effort into combating the coronavirus epidemic, implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area, and other vital concerns, ” Mahamat remarked this morning during the 40th AU summit in Addis Abeba.
Vera Songwe, United Nations Undersecretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, emphasized the need to build resilience to deal with man-made and natural disasters that Africa faces.
“African states should endeavor to use cyberspace for the advantage of small and medium-sized businesses.” “Recalling the recent sale of 11,200 bags of Ethiopian coffee on an online Chinese market in just 2 seconds,” Songwe remarked.
The ministers will deliberate on a report on the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic effect on African countries, as well as the operationalization of African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The summit will also discuss on the election of 15 members of the Pan-African Peace and Security Council, as well as a female Vice President of the Pan-African University.
