DECISION ON AFRICA'S STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
Doc. EX.CL/785(XXIII)iv
The Executive Council,
1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Sub-Committee of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (PRC) on its activities relating to Multilateral Cooperation and on Africa's strategic partnerships;
2. DECIDES as follows:
A. Africa-South America
i) EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to the People and Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea for successfully hosting the 3rd Africa- South America (ASA) Summit and pre-Summit meetings in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, from 20 to 23 February 2013;
ii) ENDORSES the Malabo Declaration and the various Decisions adopted by the 3rd ASA Summit;
iii) WELCOMES the setting up of an Ad Hoc Committee composed of the chair of the AU (Ethiopia), chair of the Union of South American Nations - UNASUR (Peru), preceding host of the ASA Summit (Venezuela), the current host (Equatorial Guinea) and the next host (Ecuador), the Regional Coordinators for Africa and South America (Nigeria and Brazil), the African Union Commission, and UNASUR, to consider the modalities for establishing the Permanent Secretariat;
iv) URGES the two sides to adhere to the time frames of the Road Map on the establishment of the ASA Trust Fund, adopted during the Malabo Summit;
v) RECALLS the 27 joint projects, 11 of which were proposed by South America side and 16 by the African side, and CALLS UPON the two sides to prioritize and start implementation of those projects which do not require substantive financing;
vi) REQUESTS the Commission in collaboration with UNASUR to facilitate the task of the Ad-hoc Committee and ensure proper implementation of the Malabo Declaration and Plan of Action;
vii) TAKES NOTE of the postponement of the Ad-hoc Working Group Meeting on ASA Financing, planned for Caracas, Venezuela, from 24 to 26 April 2013, and CALLS UPON the two sides to set a new date suitable for both sides as well as see the possibility of merging this meeting with the meeting of the Experts Committee scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 2013;
viii) REQUESTS the Commission, together with the PRC Sub-Committee on Multilateral Partnerships, to undertake review of the partnership to assess its benefit to the African side;
B. Africa-Arab Partnership
3rd Africa-Arab Summit
i) EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to the State of Kuwait for offering to host the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit to be held in Kuwait in November 2013;
ii) ALSO EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to the Commission and the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States for the progress made towards the preparation of the Summit, and REQUESTS them to continue their collaboration to ensure that all the necessary logistical and material preparations are completed on time;
iii) ENDORSES the outcome of the Tripartite Consultative Meeting between the Commission, the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the State of Kuwait held in Kuwait on 9 March 2013; and REQUESTS the PRC, through its Sub-Committee on Multilateral Cooperation, to actively participate in the post-mortem evaluation of the Summit;
iv) REQUESTS the Commission in collaboration with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and the State of Kuwait to determine the exact date of the Summit and communicate to Member States in good time;
v) CALLS UPON Member States of the African Union to actively participate in all meetings of the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit which will be held on 18 to 20 November 2013 in Kuwait;
Transformation of the Africa-Arab Cultural Institute into an Africa-Arab Institute for Culture and Strategic Studies
i) EXPRESSES SERIOUS CONCERN over the non-implementation of the Decision EX.CL/Dec.535(XVI) of the 16th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2010, on the transformation of the Africa-Arab Cultural Institute (AACI) into an Africa- Arab Institute for Culture and Strategic Studies (AAICSS);
ii) ALSO EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN over the deteriorating financial situations of the Institute;
iii) APPRECIATES the role AAICSS would play in promoting the cultural exchanges between the two brotherly peoples and in guiding the Africa- Arab Partnership on the basis of researches and studies on strategic issues affecting the two regions jointly and individually;
iv) REQUESTS the Commission, following consultations with the PRC and in collaboration with the League of Arab States, to review the performance of the Institute and, through the Executive Council of the Institute, make recommendations on its continuity to the 3rd Africa-Arab Summit, which will be held in Kuwait in November 2013;
v) DECIDES to immediately release AU annual Contribution of US$150,000 for the year 2013. In this regard, the Advisory Sub-Committee on Administrative, Budgetary and Financial matters is requested to consider the provision of an additional budget of US$100,000;
vi) REQUESTS the League of Arab States to take necessary measures to pay its annual contribution for 2013;
C. Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) V
i) EXPRESSES APPRECIATION to the People and Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for the successful hosting of the TICAD V Ministerial and Senior Officials Meetings held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 15 to 17 March 2013;
ii) ENDORSES the draft Yokohama Declaration and Plan of Action of TICAD V, as finalized by the TICAD V Ministerial Meeting in Addis Ababa;
iii) REQUESTS the Assembly to endorse the Three-Tier structure of the Follow-up Mechanism elaborated as follows:
1) Joint Secretariat: MOFA Japan, African Union Commission, UNOSAA, UNDP and World Bank;
2) Joint Monitoring Committee: composed of Japanese Government and related governmental Organizations, TICAD Co-organizers, Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union (PRC), African Diplomatic Corps in Tokyo (ADC) and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, International Organizations and donor countries;
3) Follow-up Meetings:
i. Annual Senior Officials Meeting;
ii. Annual Ministerial Meeting;
iii. Summit (every five years);
4) Principle of Rotation: principle of rotation shall be applied on all follow up meetings including the TICAD Summits;
iv) REQUESTS the Commission to undertake study, in collaboration with the PRC, regarding the modality for proposing a common position for the strategy on Low Carbon Development, in line with the current international instruments such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the ongoing negotiations under the Conference of Parties on Climate Change, and prepare a report to the Executive Council in this regard;
v) REQUESTS Member States to uphold the African joint positions taken during the TICAD V Ministerial Meeting in Addis Ababa and avoid individual positions that would compromise the unity and cohesion of the continent;
vi) TAKES NOTE of the invitation by Japan for a side-line meeting on the Reform of the UN Security Council and AGREES that only member countries of the AU Committee of Ten on UN Security Council Reform Chaired by Sierra Leone should participate in such a deliberation so as to ensure that the Common African position on this matter is put forward;
vii) ALSO TAKES NOTE of the proposal by Japan to convene a side-line meeting on Somalia and in this connection, REQUESTS the African Union Commission to obtain detailed information from Japan on the expected outcome of the said sideline meeting;
viii) CALLS UPON the Commission to develop guidelines on issues at stake and sensitize member states on regular basis;
ix) AGREES on the need to apply the co-chairmanship of TICAD Summits between Africa and Japan;
x) ALSO AGREES to thoroughly discuss applicability of the Banjul Formula, following the holding of the TICAD-V Summit;
D. Africa-Turkey
i) RECALLS the agreement, reached during the First Ministerial Review Conference of the Africa-Turkey Partnership held in December 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey, that the 2nd Africa-Turkey Summit will be held in Africa;
ii) FURTHER RECALLS the Decision EX.CL/Dec.730(XXII), of the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that the two Member States, Ethiopia and Equatorial Guinea, which requested to host the Summit are expected to finalize their consultations and communicate as soon as possible the name of the country that is going to host the Summit;
iii) REQUESTS the Commission in collaboration with the host country, to make all the necessary logistical and material preparations for the 2nd Africa- Turkey Summit to be held in October 2013;
iv) REQUESTS the PRC, through its Sub-Committee on Multilateral Cooperation, to prepare African common positions on issues to be considered by the Summit;
v) REMINDS Member States that participation to the 2nd Africa-Turkey Summit will follow the Banjul Formula in accordance with Executive Council decisions EX.CL/Dec.670 (XX) of January 2012 and EX.CL/Dec.699 (XXI) of July 2012;
vi) REQUESTS the Commission, together with the PRC Sub-Committee on Multilateral Partnerships, to undertake review of the partnership to assess its benefit to the African side;
E. Africa-India
i) EXPRESSES CONCERN over the delay in the signing of the Plan of Action of the Enhanced Framework for Cooperation of the 2nd Africa-India Forum Summit 2011-2014 and CALLS UPON the setting up of a Joint Working Group to accelerate implementation of the programmes and projects contained in the Plan within the agreed deadline;
ii) RECALLS the Decision EX.CL/Dec.730(XXII), of the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in January 2013, and UNDERLINES the need to urgently finalize consultations on the remaining Institutes;
iii) WELCOMES the agreement reached to convene the 3rd Meeting of the African and Indian Ministers of Trade in South Africa and URGES the two sides to work together to ensure success for this important event;
F. Africa-Korea
i) URGES the Commission to finalize the implementation matrix for the Africa- Korea Joint Action Plan;
ii) CALLS UPON for the early convening of the joint meeting of Experts to endorse the implementation matrix;
G. Africa-EU
i) RECALLS its Decision of EX.CL/Dec.646 (XIX) June 2011, establishing the Division of Strategic Partnerships in the office of the Chairperson to coordinate and manage all partnerships;
FURTHER RECALLS the recommendations of the study on "The Global Review of Strategic Partnerships", as adopted by the Executive Council in January 2012, whereby a call was made for an effective mechanism to be put in place in order for the PRC Sub-Committee on Multilateral Cooperation to play a more instrumental role in furthering concretization of the Africa-EU Partnership;
REQUESTS the Commission to consider the transfer of the Africa-EU Partnership to the Africa's Partnerships to the appropriate Division;
URGES the AU Commission, the Follow-up Committee on the Africa-EU Dialogue and the PRC Sub-Committee on Multilateral Partnerships to expedite preparations for the 4th Africa-EU Summit scheduled to be held from 2 to 3 April 2014, in Brussels, Belgium. CALLS UPON the Commission to ensure with the EU that all the necessary logistical and material preparations are completed on time and regularly report back to member states on the level of preparations.