In their declaration, the Heads of State and Government representing the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union and the Presidents of the eight Regional Economic Community Councils (RECs) and the Regional Mechanisms (RMs), reported the success of the integration agenda, highlighting the Ethiopia's cessation of hostilities agreement under the joint auspices of the AU and IGAD, which inspired the two organizations' recent adoption of the joint roadmap on the Sudanese crisis; the inter-REC cooperation initiative between ECCAS and ECOWAS on maritime security and efforts to resolve the long-standing crisis in the Great Lakes where, under the aegis of the AU, a quadripartite summit convened in Luanda, the East African Community (EAC) , the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the Community Council of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
They also highlighted the contribution of AUDA-NEPAD to strengthening infrastructure, combating climate change and food security and the real-time information exchange platform between RECs/RMs, Member States and the AU Commission developed in the context of prevention and conflict management on the continent.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, while praising the progress, noted that the ongoing process of division of labor between the African Union, RECs, Regional Mechanisms and Member States, will institutionalize this coordination and make it more formal. , adding that for optimal functionality, the coordination will have to broaden its scope to include continental financial institutions, think tanks and research centres, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, civil society and the private sector.
However, he stated that the integration process will be hampered by structural constraints, such as the lack of funding for the implementation of the infrastructure program at continental level, the deterioration of the peace and security situation in Africa, delays in the transformation of structures productive in a logic that includes women and young people as entrepreneurs of progress and as a protective shield against extremism and terrorism, as well as the delay in ratifying the Protocol on the free movement of people and goods.
