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Commonwealth At Third AU Summit

15 July 2004

African Union

Deputy Secretary-General Florence Mugasha attended the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6 to 8 July 2004. She represented Secretary-General Don McKinnon following a formal invitation from the AU Chairperson, President Alpha Oumar Konare of Mali. 

Commonwealth member states account for 18 of the African Union's 53 members, and the Commonwealth is an official partner of the African Peer Review Mechanism, a key component of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a programme of the African Union.  

This third annual summit saw great strides being made in the consolidation of the institution of the African Union. Key decisions included the adoption of the vision, mission and strategic planning documents of the Union, the declaration and action plan on gender equality in Africa, and the continuing integration of the NEPAD structures into the framework of the African Union.  

While in Addis Ababa, Mrs Mugasha also held bilateral meetings with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, HM King Mswati III of Swaziland and several Commonwealth African foreign ministers on issues of mutual interest including Commonwealth assistance projects in Africa, strategic support initiatives to NEPAD and the African Union, and issues relating to the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in Malta in 2005.

 

CNIS -    the Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 192   14 July 2004