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African leaders were in Nairobi County in Kenya for the African Union’s fifth Mid-Year coordination meeting, which is aimed, among other things, to address critical issues of the African integration and division of labour. Led by Kenya’s President. William Ruto, the meeting called for a reform of the AU focusing on the body’s financial autonomy
African leaders were in Nairobi County in Kenya for the African Union’s fifth Mid-Year coordination meeting, which is aimed, among other things, to address critical issues of the African integration and division of labour. Led by Kenya’s President. William Ruto, the meeting called for a reform of the AU focusing on the body’s financial autonomy.
The focus of the 5th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting was the AU theme of the year “Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation.
According to the AU less than 40% of Member States pay their yearly contributions to the institution. The institution has budgeted US$157.2 million to finance the operational budget of the Union. Of that, US$216.9 million will go into the program budget and US$273.1 million will finance peace support operations. Of the total budget, 38% is to be assessed on Member States while 61% will be from partners. The operating budget will be fully funded by Member States while the programme budget will be funded 41% by Member States and 59% solicited from international partners.
President Ruto pointed to the burden of debt many countries on the continent carry, championing a fairer financial system. According to a UN Report, African nations are disadvantaged borrowers compared to the wealthiest European nations.
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The AU theme of the year was Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation, The President of Comoros Azali Assoumani, who currently chairs the Union, was also in attendance, so also Bola Tinubu (Nigeria), Abdel Fattah (Egypt), Macky Sall (Senegal), Ismail Guelleh (Djibouti) and Ali Bongo (Gabon) among others.
