Nairobi hosted the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting (5th MYCM) of the African Union (AU) on 16 July. The event brought together Regional Economic Communities (REC), Regional Mechanisms (RM), and the AU member states under the 2023 theme of the AU, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area”. The meeting was held with the objective of evaluating the advancements made in the process of African integration, as the driving force for African economies, in light of a turbulent global economic environment and amid complex and overlapping challenges that African countries experience, compounded by conflicts and climate changes, in addition to the effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the Covid epidemic’s effects on the continent.
The summit was attended by the President of the AU, Othman Ghazali, the Chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki, and the heads of the various REC, as well as President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in his capacity as head of the AU Development Agency (NEPAD) and president of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), as well as a number of heads and representatives of governments of African countries.
The summit was preceded by a meeting of the AU Executive Council on 13 and 14 July. The ministerial meeting assessed the progress made in implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is the AU’s theme for the year 2023. It also discussed budget issues, African nominations for international bodies, the progress made on the institutional reforms of the AU and Agenda 2063, and the AU theme for 2024, among others, in addition to the appointment of some members to the AU Sub-Committees. Moreover, the Council presented the Summit with its report on the issues under discussion for consideration and approval.
Summit Priorities
In 2017 the African Union decided to create a mid-year coordination meeting that brings together the AU and REC in an effort to overcome the obstacles facing the economic integration of the African continent, specifically the challenge posed by the lack of coordination between continental and regional efforts, in conjunction with the AU’s institutional reform efforts and within the framework of the division of tasks. The coordination meeting is intended to replace the June/July summits, with the participation of the heads of REC, the AU Commission, and the various RM, to ensure coordination and harmonization of work between the AU and REC.
Under Egypt’s AU presidency, the first AU Mid-Year Coordination Meeting was held in July 2019. Since then, several priority issues related to the African economic integration process have been identified, and their progress has been discussed at each subsequent meeting. Assessing the state of regional and continental integration in Africa, talking about a clear and effective task division between the AU and the various REC and between these communities and one another, as well as coordinating and harmonizing the policies of the AU and the REC, including planning, implementing policies, monitoring and evaluation, resource mobilization, and partnerships, with the aim of accelerating the integration procedure, are some additional issues that are typically addressed. These are the same main topics that were covered by the 5th MYCM, held in Nairobi on 16 July, as well as the discussions, workshops, and side meetings that began on 13 July.
In the meantime, the summit discussed the steps taken to expedite the implementation of the AfCFTA, which was launched in 2019, in accordance with the African Union’s 2023 theme, “Accelerating the Implementation of the AfCFTA”, which was also the theme of the 5th MYCM. President Al-Sisi, in his capacity as Head of the NEPAD, has designated this objective as one of Egypt’s top priorities during its NEPAD presidency.
In this regard, the summit focused on discussing the steps taken to promote “freedom of movement”, especially given that only 4 countries out of 46 that ratified the African Trade Agreement (ATA) ratified the related protocol. The AU Passport and means of connecting financial markets and infrastructure for the countries of the continent were also major topics of discussion.
The Summit lauded the satisfactory progress in implementing the AfCFTA, as evidenced by the successful conclusion of negotiations on rules of origin, the conclusion of investment, competition, and intellectual property rights protocols, and the involvement of the private sector.
Urgent Issues
In addition to the previously identified topics, the summit also addressed a number of issues necessitated by the surrounding local, regional, and global conditions, including:
1. African Mediation between Russia and Ukraine: The effects of the Russian-Ukrainian war on African economies have hurt and continue to hurt African countries. Seven African countries (South Africa, Egypt, Comoros, Senegal, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda) have proposed an initiative to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in June 2023, which includes ten points to prevent an escalation of the conflict. This initiative follows the efforts of the President of Senegal and the Chairman of the AU Commission to mediate the conflict since June 2022.
2. Africa’s Economic Recovery: In light of the detrimental effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s economies, this was another crucial topic on the summit’s agenda. Despite the progress made in responding to the pandemic, member states continue to face obstacles that negatively impact their economies, which were just beginning to recover when the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out. As a result, the meeting focused on Africa’s economic recovery and the implementation of initiatives to address problems in agriculture, infrastructure, debt, climate change, security, energy, and health, in addition to discussing ways for African countries to recover from these successive crises.
3. Developing the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (STYIP) for Africa’s Agenda 2063: Africa’s Agenda 2063’s first ten-year implementation plan (FTYIP) concludes by the end of 2023. The 36th Ordinary AU Summit, held in Addis Ababa in February 2023, covered the FTYIP’s advancements, whereas the Nairobi Summit covered the STYIP that NEPAD is developing. During its presidency of the NEPAD, Egypt identified a number of priorities, the most important of which is the expeditious completion of the STYIP of the African Development Agenda (2024-2034), taking into consideration the lessons learned from the FTYIP. The STYIP is expected to be approved at the upcoming AU summit.
4. Climate Change and the Environment: The Nairobi Summit paid particular attention to the issue of climate change; a session was devoted to it, and discussions covered efforts to combat the problem and adaptation strategies. The session also addressed the most important issue in this regard, namely climate action financing. In this regard, President Al-Sisi gave a speech in his capacity as president of COP27 at the environment and climate change session to review Egyptian efforts to combat the effects of climate change. The most recent of these efforts was the launch of the African Initiative to Adapt to Climate Change, which aims at enabling African countries to obtain the necessary financing to implement measures to adapt to and mitigate climate impacts as well as establish a framework for climate change adaptation, in addition to establishing a “Loss and Damage” fund to assist developing and poor countries affected by climate change, the Decent Life for Africa initiative, and the “Global Renewable Hydrogen Forum” initiative, which are being implemented. The Nairobi Summit reached an agreement on the arrangements for the first African Climate Summit, which will be held in Nairobi in September 2023, with the goal of unifying African positions on climate issues, particularly prior to the COP28 in the UAE.
5. Formulation of a Shared African Perspective on the Sudan Crisis: The Sudanese crisis won a portion of the discussion after repeated attempts to end the conflict, the most recent of which was the Cairo Summit of Sudan’s Neighboring States, which won the acceptance of both conflicting parties. During the Nairobi Summit, the AUattempted to discuss the formulation of a shared African vision for the Sudanese crisis and called for a cease-fire in order to find a comprehensive solution to the crisis in light of these various platforms and in accordance with the principle of African Solutions to African Problems.
In conclusion, despite the efforts made by African countries to advance and accelerate the process of economic integration on the continent, these efforts are jeopardized by the continuation of conflicts and a lack of funding. As a result, African countries must step up their efforts to put an end to armed conflict and implement the ATA as the cornerstone of the desired integration process. This calls for the international community to carry out its responsibilities and uphold its commitments to the least developed nations.
