By Egena Sunday Ode
President Bola Tinubu will on Saturday, July 20, depart Abuja for Accra, Ghana to participate in the Sixth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union (AU), the Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the Regional Mechanisms (RMs), and the African Union Member States.
In his capacity as the Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Tinubu will address the meeting on the status of regional integration across various areas in Africa, highlighting the achievements and challenges encountered in West Africa since the last meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2023.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this in a statement on on Friday.
The President and Chairman of ECOWAS will present the ‘2024 Report on the State of the Community’, focusing on peace, regional security, governance, economic integration, humanitarian and social development, energy, mines and agriculture, according to the statement.
It added that the meeting will be convened under the AU theme of the year 2024: ‘Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century.’
The Mid-Year Coordination Meeting was conceptualized in 2017 as the principal forum for the AU and the RECs to align their work and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda, replacing the June/July summits.
In July 2023, President Tinubu, who was then elected as the Chairman of ECOWAS, delivered his maiden speech at the AU Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, where he affirmed Africa’s strength and the need for unity, Ngelale noted in the statement.
In Accra, the items on the agenda will include evaluating the AU’s early warning and conflict prevention mechanisms and promoting cooperation among regional economic communities to accelerate integration.
A declaration will be adopted at the end of the meeting, the statement noted.
President Tinubu, who will be accompanied by senior government officials, will return to the country at the conclusion of the meeting, it said.
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