African Union - Executive Council
Forty-Third Ordinary Session
Statement by Antonio Pedro
Acting Executive Secretary United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
Thursday 13 July 2023
Nairobi, Kenya
His Excellency Dr Alfred Mutua, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Kenya,
His Excellency Mr Dhoihir Dhoulkamal, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Union of Comoros,
Her Excellency Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of African Union Commission,
His Excellency Mr Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Kattan, Former Minister of State, Advisor to the Royal Court of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am honoured to join you all today at the 43rd Executive Council meeting of the African Union.
This is a significant event on our calendar as it offers an opportunity to all of us to reflect, reset, recalibrate and recommit to the goals of Africa’s Agenda 2063.
This comes on the back of a number of important events, where Africa has spoken in a loud unified and strong voice, namely the Conference on the Blue Economy and Climate Action in Africa: Island and Coastal States, held in Moroni, Comoros, the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, held in Paris, France, as well as the 2023 Caucus of African Governors of the World Bank and IMF African, held in Sal, Cape Verde.
Amidst the setbacks and challenges brought on by the global poly-crises, Africans have come together to find solutions and innovate, driven by the determination to save lives and livelihoods.
We must leverage that same spirit of solidarity, sense of urgency and resilience to embrace the opportunities before us to deliver on the promises of this critical Agenda.
Africa has already started leading the way for a renewed sense of common purpose as reflected in the outcomes of the African Union Summit on Industrialization and Economic Diversification, held in November 2022, in Niamey, Niger, which articulated a clear pathway to accelerate Africa’s structural transformation with a potential to contribute an increased share of tradable goods in total exports, more productive and decent jobs, value addition, larger volumes of intra-African trade, greater product complementarity between African economies and the emergence of strong and well-linked regional value chains, making near-shoring or Afri-shoring possible and breaking Africa’s dependence on the export of raw materials.
The AfCFTA will serve as the catalyst for all of these step changes.