(SLENA, 21st December, 2021). The transition from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU) highlighted the need to promote African integration and the African continent ‘as one’ on the international stage, defend Africa’s common interests and strengthen Africa’s position in the global economy and in the international community.
These objectives are reinforced in both the Constitutive Act, which mandates the AU to “encourage international cooperation”, and in the Agenda 2063 Aspiration 7 which envisions “Africa as a strong, united, resilient and influential global player and partner”.
Achieving this will entail improving Africa’s place in the global governance system; improving Africa’s partnerships, and refocusing them to respond to African priorities for growth and transformation, while ensuring that the continent can finance its own development and reduce aid dependency.
The theme of the summit is, “Enhanced Partnership for Common Development and Prosperity.”
The Africa-Turkey partnership was formalized in the 2008 Istanbul Summit, during which two outcome documents were adopted, namely the Istanbul Declaration and the Framework for Cooperation.
The second Africa-Turkey Summit took place in November 2014 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The 2nd Summit adopted the Malabo Declaration, the Africa Turkey Joint Implementation Plan and the Matrix of the Key Priority Projects covering Trade and Investment, Peace and Security, Culture, Tourism and Education, Youth Empowerment and Technology Transfer, Rural Economy and Agriculture, Infrastructure: Energy, ICT and Transport as well as other topics such as Health and Media.
On the margin of the Summit, a parallel Session on Health under the theme “Mobilizing Potentials for African Health Needs in the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Era” will be organized by Ministers of Health and Heads of Delegation from Africa, representing the Continent and the African Union.
The high-level participation of the AU shows the commitment in strengthening collaboration on current issues in the global arena as it relates to Health, Peace, Security, Governance and Justice, human-focused development and strong and sustainable growth.
The Africa-Turkey common actions for the period leading-up to the next Summit can be summarized under the following three sub-themes: Peace, Security and Justice, Human-Focused Development and Strong and Sustainable Growth.
These sub-themes will be implemented under five strategic cooperation areas through a Joint Action Plan for the period 2021- 2026 leading up to the next Summit.
