Ahead of the 4th Africa-Arab Summit, to open on November 23 under the theme of “Together for Sustainable Development and Economic Cooperation”, Senior Officials from Member States of the Africa Union (AU) and League of Arab States, met on Saturday 19 November, 2016 at the SIPOPO Conference Center, Malabo.

In her opening remarks, H. E. Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl, AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry, welcomed the Senior Officials on behalf of the Chairperson of the African union Commission, H.E. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and highlighted the objectives of the Senior Officials meeting, which is to review the draft Africa-Arab Summit documents namely the Malabo Declaration, Declaration on the Situation of Palestine and Resolutions. She recalled that the African Union has adopted Agenda 2063 as Africa’s blue print towards economic and structural transformation of the continent during the next five decades and beyond and in this regard underlined the need to develop an action plan for Africa-Arab Partnership which takes into account the Agenda 2063 and corresponding strategies of the Arab world,

Speaking earlier, H.E. Mr. Cherif Mahamat Zene, Chairperson of the Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union (PRC) and Ambassador of the Republic of Chad to Ethiopia pointed out the fact that the Africa-Arab partnership is not fully taking advantage of its utmost potentials and therefore suggested that the existing joint implementation and follow up mechanisms should be revisited in order to help the realization of concrete programs and projects.

H.E. Ahmed Ben Helli, Deputy Secretary General of the League of Arab States, on his part stated the actions that have been taken to finalize the draft outcome documents of the Summit and noted that the meeting will consider and finalize those documents, hoping that this Summit would give greater impetus to the realization of more concrete deliverables.

H.E. Mr. Rashid Al-Hajiri, Ambassador of the Kuwait to Ethiopia, Chairperson of the Arab side of the Africa-Arab Partnership Coordination Committee and Co-Chair of the Meeting, recalled the rich history, culture and aspirations of the partnership. He recalled that, during the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit held in Kuwait in November 2013, the Amir of Kuwait launched important initiatives for the next five years, including the concessional loan of US$1b, which will be used to finance agricultural, infrastructure, and educational projects in Africa, among others.

Representing the Host Country, H.E. Mr. Simeon Oyono Esono, Ambassador of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the UNECA, recalled the theme of the 4th Africa-Arab Summit entitled “Together for Sustainable Development”, and encouraged the participants to initiate actions and projects that would accentuate the partnership to the desired objective for the mutual benefits of the two sides.

During their meeting, the Senior Officials will consider various reports including: the Progress Report on the Implementation of the Initiatives of H.H. the Emir of Kuwait on Investment and Development announced during the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit, Kuwait November 2013, Administrative and Financial Report of the Director General of the Africa-Arab Cultural Institute and

The Meeting will also consider draft outcome documents of the Summit, namely: the Malabo Declaration, Declaration on Palestine and various resolutions of the 4th Africa-Arab Summit. It will also consider the draft Agenda of the Joint Council of Ministers and the Summit, to be held on 21 and 23 Nov respectively.

The report and recommendations of the Meeting will be submitted to the Joint Council of African and Arab Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

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The Africa Arab partnership is one of the Strategic partnerships that the AU Commission is coordinating on behalf of the African Union. Other partnerships at continental level include Africa-China; (FOCAC), Africa-Europe; Africa-India; Africa-Turkey; Africa-Japan (TICAD), Africa-South America; Africa-Korea. The African Union, through its Commission, also has partnerships or relationships with institutions and bodies similar to the African Union. These include: the League of Arab States (LAS); the Organization of American States (OAS); the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; the Commonwealth; and La Francophonie.