36th AU summit holds February 18-19 in Addis Ababa

The thirty-sixth Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union is set to hold between February 18 and 19 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the AU theme for the year 2023, “Accelerating the Implementation of AfCFTA.”

The landmark summit coincides with the 20th anniversary of the creation of the AU and the 60th anniversary of the creation of its precursor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), just as 2023 will also mark the commencement of Agenda 2063’s Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (STYIP).

The AU Assembly will be preceded by the ongoing 45th Ordinary Session of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC) [Ambassadorial Session] scheduled for January 16–27 and the 42nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council [Ministerial Session] billed for February 15–16.

Dedicating the implementation of AfCFTA as the AU theme for 2023 comes against the backdrop of the AU Summit on Industrialization, Economic Diversification, and an Extraordinary Session on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), held November 25 in Niamey, Niger. This signifies African leaders’ continued high-level political commitment towards AfCFTA’s implementation.

A statement by the AU Commission says the PRC session will consider reports of the various Specialized Technical Committees (STCs) held in 2022, the annual report on the implementation of activities on the roadmap of AU theme of the year 2022 on Strengthening Resilience in Nutrition and Food Security on the African Continent, as well as the evaluation report of the First-Ten Year Implementation Plan (FTYIP) of Agenda 2063.

Moreover, the ambassadorial session will consider the development of Agenda 2063’s Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (STYIP), the report on the social and humanitarian situation (humanitarian situation and humanitarian agency), as well as the draft agenda and draft decisions of the 42nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council scheduled to take place from February 15th to 16th in Addis Ababa, among others.