Africa-Press – Angola. Angola assumes the third vice-presidency of the African Union (AU) during the 35th annual Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the organization which starts today, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who represents the President of the Republic at the Summit, with this position, Angola has increased responsibilities in the organisation.
“The Bureau of the African Union, of which Angola will be a part, is a flexible mechanism that can propose solutions to burning issues in the event that all Member States cannot participate to address a certain issue”, he said
. The Senegalese Head of State, Macky Sall, replaces his DRC counterpart, Félix Tshisekedi, is responsible for the organization
.
The Foreign Minister considers that “there is a certain setback” with regard to peace and security on the continent, referring to the outbreaks of instability and successive coups d’état.
Téte António says that the Summit is “a great opportunity to to discuss the burning issues” of the continent and institutional reforms.
But malnutrition and food security on the continent, a central theme of the Summit, will also deserve the special attention of the Heads of State, taking into account the worsening situation in Africa.
The African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Development and the Blue Economy, the Angolan Josefa Sacko, said that, in African countries, 40 percent of the production rots in the fields, due to the lack of access routes for the flow, and the women, who guarantee 80 percent of food production, they continue to be discriminated against in obtaining some benefits, such as access to credit.
Josefa Sacko said that a large part of the African population has problems accessing land. According to the African Union Commissioner, Africa’s problems are identical. As a result, a “common strategy” was developed to ensure a resilient and sustainable food system.
“It is time to take advantage of the theme of the year so that the Governments’ development plans are in line with the common position, which reflects the concerns in terms of Agriculture, esplanade in the Malabo Declaration”, he said.
Angola is one of the biggest contributors to the Angola is one of the
six biggest contributors to the African Union budget with US$19 million a year, along with South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and Nigeria.The information was given yesterday by the Angolan ambassador to the African Union, Francisco Cruz.
According to the diplomat, Angola should take advantage of this situation to be better represented in the organization’s structures. The number of vacancies for Angola went from 39 to 74, even so, the country has only five permanent employees in the African Union Commission and without positions of responsibility.
Meanwhile, Angola has submitted two candidacies for elective positions in the international system. These are the candidatures of Sebastião Isata to the United Nations Human Rights Advisory Committee, for the period 2023-2025, and of Domingos Viana Moreira to the Commission for the Limits of the Continental Shelf in Africa, for 2022-2027.
For the Advisory Committee on Human Rights, elections are scheduled for September, in New York, and for the Commission for the Continental Shelf, in June, in the same city.
Country is a good example for Africa
The executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, praised the reforms underway in the country. Speaking to the press, after having received the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, the high official of the United Nations said that “Angola is a good example for Africa” for the reforms it is carrying out.
Vera Songwe said that Angola and other countries on the continent should invest in renewable energies to develop their economies, while the Minister of Foreign Affairs highlighted the great contribution of the United Nations Economic Commission in the execution of “many institutional projects” in Angola
. right after the country’s independence, the then
Ministry of Mines, today of Mineral Resources, benefited from the support of the institution, in which the nationalist Lopo do Nascimento worked. Ethiopian Airlines Board of Directors, Esayas Woldemarian, who expressed the company’s availability to train Angolan staff in the field of Aeronautics.
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the largest African companies and in the past it has trained Angolan staff in various areas of Civil Aviation.
São Tomé and Príncipe praises Angola’s stance
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of São Tomé and Príncipe, Edite Then Jua, praised Angola’s stance by convening, in Addis Ababa, a consultation meeting at the level of the CPLP, for the assumption of a position on the attempted coup d’état in Guinea-Bissau, which took place on 1 February.
Speaking to the press, Edite Then Jua said that the CPLP countries could not remain silent in the face of such an act and that the matter will deserve the attention of the Heads of State during the summit that starts today.
Angola assumed the presidency of the CPLP in July last year, replacing Cape Verde.
The Sao Tome minister expressed her country’s interest in deepening relations in the various domains.
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