African Union calls for continental integration in mid-year coordination meeting

ACCRA, Ghana | Xinhua | The African Union (AU) on Sunday opened its sixth mid-year coordination meeting in Accra, the capital of Ghana, calling for the peace and solidarity of the continent.

The meeting on the theme of “Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century” brought together the AU, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and the AU members, among some others.

In his remarks, AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat stressed the role the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) played in promoting integration in the continent.

“The AfCFTA is obliged to become a lever that catalyzes structural reforms which, in turn, will facilitate the creation of wealth, through the improvement of economic governance, the mobilization of financing and human capital,” Faki said.

The chairperson further called on African countries to maximize the potential of the AfCFTA to make it an engine of growth and diversification of the economies to increase trade within the continent.

Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who opened the meeting, said some regions in Africa are still being plagued by conflict, instability, and violence that hinder development and pose a threat to broader continental security.

The president therefore called on his African counterparts to work hard to find solutions to a myriad of conflicts on the continent.

The AU introduced its mid-year coordination meeting in 2017 as the principal forum to align the work of the AU and RECs and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda. ■