The 18th Ordinary Session of African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government will officially start on Monday January 23rd.  The theme of the Summit will be “Boosting intra-African trade”.

The 23rd Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) will take place January 23rd – 24th and consider the reports of the sub-committees on structures, multilateral cooperation, contributions, economic and trade matters and the report on NEPAD as well as the report of the Special Emergency Assistance Fund for Drought and Famine in Africa. The Permanent Representatives will also consider the working documents and draft decisions to be presented to the 20th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, the Foreign Ministers of the member states.

The Executive Council will meet January 26th-27th at the AU headquarters to discuss the reports of ministerial meetings organized by the AU Commission during the previous six months. They will also consider the Commission’s report, the recommendations of the Permanent Representatives on implementation of previous decisions of the Executive Council and of the Assembly, reports of other AU bodies including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court as well as consider items proposed by Member States, and the report of the ministerial committee on candidatures.

The AU Commission ends its current four year mandate in January. The Heads of State and Government will be electing the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the Executive Council will elect Commissioners of the African Union, ten members of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) and one judge for the AU Ad-hoc Administrative Tribunal.

The 18th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union will take place on January 29th and 30th, and it will be preceded on January 28th by the inauguration of the new African Union Conference Center in the presence of the Heads of State and Government. At the opening ceremony on January 29th the Assembly will pay tribute to the memory of the late Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former Presiding Officer of the ECOSOCC of the African Union and the late Mrs. Elisabeth Tankeu, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry.

The  Summit will consider the recommendations of the Executive Council and the report of the Peace and Security Council as well as the reports of Prime Minister Meles, Chairperson of NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) on NEPAD, and on Africa’s preparation for the 17th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 17), held in Durban last month, and the reports of President Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo, Coordinator on Africa’s preparations for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), of President Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, Chairperson of the Committee of Ten on UN Reforms and of President Kagame of Rwanda, on the 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness held in Busan, South Korea in November.

It will adopt the declaration of the Summit on its theme “Boosting intra-African trade” and agree the date and place of the 19th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union, according to the election of the AU Chairperson.

Source: A Week in the Horn of Africa – Jan. 13, 2012 issue.

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