34th AU Summit Kicks off in Addis Ababa

A short while ago, the 34th African Union Summit launched its virtual conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, with limited participation due to the precautionary measures for the corona pandemic.

The African Union Commission recently announced that the activities of the 34th ordinary edition of the AU conference will be held on February 6 and 7, provided that the agenda is simplified and with limited participation via the Internet, for non-African countries and international organizations approved due to precautionary measures to confront the emerging Coronavirus.

The 38th ordinary session of the Executive Council of the African Union was opened earlier today, Saturday to discuss a number of important files, on top of which are the African nominations in the international system, as well as the elections and appointments of the leadership of the African Union Commission.

On the other hand, Namira Negm, the legal advisor to the African Union stated that the most important outcome of the African Union’s 13th virtual extraordinary summit in South Africa was the issuance of the Johannesburg Declaration on the start of trade under the founding agreement of the African Continental Free Trade Area as of January 1, 2021.

The declaration called for activating all units of the African Trade Observatory in order to enhance the speed of availability of trade information and related services.

Negm emphasized that this is in addition to enhancing transparency, efficiency, and integrity in the market for trade in goods and services for the African Continental Free Trade Area, and by activating the electronic mechanism for monitoring non-tariff barriers and reporting.

States, members of Africa and the Southern African Customs Union that have submitted their tariff concession schedules are: Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Gabon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi; Mauritius, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, and South Africa.