The newly elected Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) is expected at the 41st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council and the 4th Mid-Year Coordination Meeting (MYCM) of the African Union, scheduled to take place in Lusaka, Zambia, from 14 to 17 July 2022.
A report on the recently successful elections of the office-bearers of the PAP will feature on the agenda of the upcoming high-level engagements. The new leadership of the PAP is set to be introduced to Policy Organs of the AU, in line with the Executive Council Decision of October 2021, which resolved the stalemate around modalities for the election of the Bureau and instructed that a report be presented at the next meeting of the decision-making structures of the Union.
As a reminder, on 29 June 2022, H.E. Chief Fortune Charumbira (Zimbabwe) was overwhelmingly elected as the new President of the PAP. Also elected to serve in the PAP Bureau, was the 1st Vice President, Hon.Prof. Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf from Mauritania; Hon. Dr Ashebiri Gayo from Ethiopia was elected as the 2nd Vice President, Hon. Lúcia Maria Mendes Gonçalves dos Passos from Cape Verde was voted as the 3rd Vice President, and Hon. Francois Ango Ndoutoume from Gabon elected as the 4th Vice President.
H.E. Chief Charumbira, President of the PAP says that the MYCM also presents an opportunity to advocate for greater support by, and collaboration with, the Policy Organs as the Continental legislature resumes its parliamentary activities.
“The PAP is back and fully operational. This will be our principal message to the AU stakeholders gathered in Lusaka this week. AU values and principles of rotation, equal representation and consensus prevailed last month when African Parliamentarians elected their Bureau. As we prepare to report on a successful election process, we will convey our readiness to reposition the continental Parliament and reclaim its place within the AU architecture. The MYCM will further serve as a platform for consultations with Policy Organs and other partners at various levels to determine how the PAP can adequately be resourced in order to effectively contribute to the strategic priorities of the Union,” says H.E. Chief Charumbira.
The Bureau of the PAP will be accompanied to the MYCM by the Zambian delegation to the PAP as well as the Chairperson of the Permanent Committee on Monetary and Financial Affairs.
The MYCM was conceptualized in 2017 as the principal forum for the AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to align their work and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda, replacing the June/ July summits. It is a meeting between the bureau of the AU Assembly and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), with the participation of the Chairpersons of RECs, the AU Commission and Regional Mechanisms (RMs).
The MYCM will focus on the status of regional integration in Africa; Effective Division of Labour; Launch of the inter-regional knowledge exchange (I-RECKE); Tripartite FTA between EAC, COMESA and SADC; Impact of the Ukraine crisis on the African continent; and Africa’s response to COVID-19, among other items on the agenda of the meetingon 17th July.
It will be preceded by the 41st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, which will run from 14 to 15 July.
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