Africa-Press – Eritrea. The work surrounding the 37th Summit of the African Union (AU), scheduled for the 17th and 18th of this month, in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), marked political news over the last seven days.
In preparation for the AU assembly, the Ethiopian capital has been hosting, since last Wednesday, the debates of the 44th session of the Executive Council (EC) of this continental organization, which should prepare the agenda for the Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, to be held on Saturday and Sunday.
Angola, whose President, João Lourenço, arrived in Addis Ababa this Friday for the Conference of Heads of State, was represented, from the first day of the preparatory work, by a delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António.
It is also worth highlighting the proposal made by the Head of State, João Lourenço, in Addis Ababa, to his counterparts from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for a direct dialogue between them to put an end to the conflict between the two neighboring countries.
João Lourenço was speaking at the opening of the extraordinary summit on the situation in the DRC, held on his initiative to identify measures leading to the resumption of the pacification process in the east of this country neighboring Angola.
The election of 10 new members of the AU Peace and Security Council (CPS), including Angola, and the analysis of the organization’s participation modalities and priorities in the Group of 20 emerging countries (G20) were among the points on the Council’s agenda Executive.
The executive body is also focusing on preparations for the election of a new leadership of the AU Commission, in February 2025.
On the sidelines of the 44th ordinary session of the Executive Council, Angola signed, in Addis Ababa, two bilateral cooperation agreements with Ethiopia and three with Djibouti, aiming to “create a new dynamic” in its relations in various areas.
On both occasions, the legal cooperation instruments were signed by the Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, and his counterparts, the Ethiopian, Taye Atske-Selassie, and Djibouti, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.
As for Ethiopia, this is the General Cooperation Agreement in the Economic, Technical-Scientific and Cultural domains and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Establishment of Political Consultation Mechanisms between the Angolan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
With Djibouti, the agreements include visa exemptions for diplomatic and service passports. The two countries are now equally linked by a General Agreement on Economic, Technical, Social and Scientific Cooperation, and by a Memorandum of Understanding on Political Consultations.
The latter focuses on political consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Angola and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Djibouti.
Still in the Ethiopian capital, Angola reaffirmed its position in favor of maintaining Zimbabwe in the presidency of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), whose mandate was interrupted by the last general elections of 2023, in this Southern African country.
The country’s position was announced by the president of the National Group of the National Assembly with the PAP, deputy Manuel Augusto, who said there is another current that defends the maintenance of Southern Africa in the presidency, but not necessarily through Zimbabwe.
lDuring the week, political news also echoed the dismissal, by the President of the Republic, of Palmira Barbosa from the position of Minister of Youth and Sports.
To replace him, the Head of State appointed Rui Falcão Pinto de Andrade, who was sworn in on Thursday, in a ceremony during which João Lourenço called for greater attention to school sports, as it is the hotbed of federated sport.
Likewise, the President of the Republic recommended attention to the maintenance and management of sports infrastructures built in the country and considered it necessary for Angola to recover its splendor in sports such as basketball, and maintain the results in handball, particularly women’s, without undermining others modalities.
On the other hand, the National Assembly (AN) held the Conference of Parliamentary Leaders, which defined the agenda for the Plenary Meeting on February 28th, having decided for this date to discuss and vote, in general, on the Proposed Law on Political Division -Administrative (DPA), which provides for the creation of two (2) more provinces and 161 municipalities.
The Plenary will also carry out the final global vote on the proposals for the Law on Anti-Doping in Sports, Cryptocurrency Mining and other virtual articles, as well as the proposal that changes the Organic Law of the Courts of Appeal.
The proposal for an Anti-Doping Law in Sport, whose joint report on the specialty was approved this Friday, results from an urgent request, made by the Government, for Parliament to comment on the issue.
In the international chapter, the Angolan ambassador to South Africa, Rui Xavier, discussed, in Pretoria, the strengthening of bilateral cooperation with his counterpart from Trinidad and Tobago, Lovel Francis, while the CPLP ambassadors to the UN defined, in New York, intervention areas.
The promotion of peace and security, the defense of human rights and sustainable development constitute the main areas of intervention of the CPLP Group of Countries at the United Nations.
The group’s priorities were highlighted by Angola’s permanent representative to the UN, Francisco da Cruz, during the meeting of ambassadors of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), which marked the handover of portfolios from Angola’s ad hoc rotating presidency to the Brazil.
According to the diplomat, the group’s areas of intervention also include the dissemination of multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as the democratization of international relations and multilateralism.
On the other hand, the country participated, in virtual format, in the 41st Orientation Session of Heads of State and Governments of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), which served to present the 2023 Performance Report.
The event was hosted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, representing the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.
On the occasion, Téte António praised NEPAD for its assessment of infrastructure investment across the continent and stressed the need to maintain the trend of infrastructure development, taking into account the impact they have on the growth of the continent.
Still during the week, Angolan diplomacy celebrated, on the 12th of February, an indelible milestone in its history, given that it was on this date, in 1976, that the then People’s Republic of Angola was admitted, “de jure”, into the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU).
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