African finance ministers are set to convene a high-level meeting to review the progress registered so far regarding the African Union (AU)’s aspiration towards financial cooperation.
The high-level meeting, which will be held in Egypt’s resort city Sharm-El-Sheikh on December 6 that was organized by the AU Commission, will bring together ministers of finance of the AU member states, experts in the financial sector, as well as high-level officials from the AU Commission.
The AU, emphasizing its needs to adequate, reliable and predictable resources to implement its programs so as to achieve its development and integration goals, in a statement issued on Tuesday stressed that the meeting on Friday this week will review the work and contribution of the Committee of Fifteen Ministers of Finance (F15) in relation to the mandates stipulated in the various Executive and Assembly decisions of the AU Commission.
African finance ministers “will also take stock of achievements, challenges and lessons learned with a view to improving the F15’s internal operations and external engagements with key stakeholders, all in the broader context of the financing of the Union initiative.”
The 55-member pan African bloc had previously adopted financial reform decisions that envisaged securing timely, adequate, reliable and predictable payment of all member states assessed contributions, financial autonomy and reduced dependence on external resources.
The decision also aspires to create an improved budget, equitable burden-sharing of the Union’s budget and predictable and sustainable financing of the AU’s peace operations.
The meeting of the Committee of Fifteen Ministers of Finance (F15) was first convened in September 2016 at the headquarters of the AU in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The Committee is mainly mandated to participate in the preparation of the AU annual budget and provide oversight in its implementation, as well as participate in the development and administration of the AU scale of assessment for member states’ contribution and related sanctions regime.
The Committee also provides an oversight role on the AU Reserve Fund, participate in audit matters, and provide general guidance on the implementation of decisions made by the executive and assembly organs of the AU on Financing of the Union. Enditem
