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S. Africa gears up for AU summit

Xinhua, May 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Africa is engaging the African Union (AU) Commission on all the arrangements for the upcoming AU summit, and "we are confident that the summit will be a success," Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Mait Nkoana-Mashabane said on Friday.

South Africa will host the AU summit in Johannesburg in June 2015 in accordance with a decision of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted at its meeting in Addis Ababa in January.

"As you are aware, this will be the second time that South Africa has the honor to host an AU Summit," Nkoana-Mashabane told reporters in Pretoria.

South Africa hosted the inaugural summit of the AU in 2002.

The June 2015 summit will maintain the theme of the January 2015 Summit, which is: "Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa's Agenda 2063."

Zimbabwe, as chair of the African Union for 2015, will chair the summit and its related meetings.

AU Summits are held in a particular systematic order, starting with the Meeting of the Permanent Representatives' Committee (these are Ambassadors accredited to the AU in Addis Ababa), followed by the Meeting of the Executive Council (which is comprised of Ministers of Foreign Affairs or International Relations), culminating into the Assembly of Heads of State. Thus, the upcoming AU summit week will take place from June 7 to June 16.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee has been set up and is overseeing preparations for the event, Nkoana-Mashabane said.

Several national government departments have come together and meet on a regular basis to ensure that all logistical arrangements are in place for the summit, Nkoana-Mashabane said.

Substantively, the summit will focus on the implementation of a number of decisions taken at the January 2015 Summit, which relate to Agenda 2063 and its first 10-year implementation plan, state of continental peace and security, including terrorism, women's empowerment and development, alternative sources of funding the AU continental integration and operationalizing the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDCP) by 2015. Endi