Specialized Technical Committee of AU Meets in Kenya

Kenya will host the sixth meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee (STC) of the African Union Commission from July 17 through 21. The meeting will discuss issues of development, planning, and African integration.

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The gathering is held under the theme "Africa beyond the crisis: drawing up an agenda for investment, sustainable growth, and shared prosperity", the STC said.

The objectives of the meeting are to design the integral reconstruction of the African continent. The central column of this design will be an investment agenda that will project the African Continental Free Trade Area towards Agenda 2063.

This is the main meeting platform for African economic ministers. Areas like finance, sustainable economy, planning, and development are all aimed at the integration of the continental economy. Organized as a large conference, African central banks also meet in this space to discuss issues related to bilateral financial policies.

The meeting of the Specialized Technical Committee is also the fundamental setting for monitoring the implementation of the Integration Agenda for the African continent.

The relevance of the issues dealt with in this committee is that they are aimed at generating structural changes for the continent. The meeting will tackle issues related to the effective creation of employment and productive capacity and sustainable social protection programs. Environmental and human rights aspects will also be on the table, as will facilitating the transition towards a green economy and promoting intergenerational equity.

13 African countries will participate in this meeting, including 5 member countries of the African Union Bureau and 8 leading countries of regional economic groupings on the continent.

There will be closed-door sessions that will include speeches by the leaders of the African economic blocs that implement trade integration strategies on the continent. It will also focus on the achievements of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and its role in promoting African economic integration and achieving its agenda goals.