A Ministerial Meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), was held on Friday at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly with the aim of building a meaningful collective effort towards peace and development in Africa.
Organised by the Kingdom of Morocco, the meeting was devoted to the theme, “the interdependence between peace, security and development: towards a collective commitment for action.”
A communiqué issued from the event said the organisation of the meeting, stemmed out of Morocco’s belief that that the response to all security challenges, to deficiencies in development, and to the necessities of an increasingly globalized modern life, necessarily requires collaborating on a concerted action on the ground, and a pooling of efforts for a more promising future for the next African generations.
In addition, Morocco remained convinced that the AU’s Peace and Security Council has the necessary capacity to contribute effectively to the settlement of disputes in Africa and the reduction of instability factors, is organizing this meeting so that all concerned actors about peace and security in Africa can exchange views.
The panelists who led the discussions were Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission; Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Sameh Choukri, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs;
And Smaïl Chergui, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security.
The discussions, according to the communiqué, aimed at defining a common vision about the link between peace, security and development; identifying ways and means to implement the established principle of the interdependence between peace, security and development; and ensuring the necessary synergy between the various bodies in charge of development and peace and security at the level of the African Union.
In addition, they discussed ways to strengthen harmonization and coordination between the various UN and African initiatives, as well as ways to efficiently integrate the perspective of interdependence between peace and security and development into all the strategies and programs of the Union, its organs and institutions and its Member States in order to concretize the collective and shared commitment to achieving the objectives of peace, security and sustainable development on the continent;
Among other things, the meeting agreed that the implementation of sustainable socio-economic development policies at the heart of the security agenda of African countries remains a fundamental approach to the success of prevention, management and reconstruction efforts.
The Ministers therefore agreed to fashion out a roadmap for the implementation of collective commitments to achieve the above objectives of constructive peace, security and development on the continent.
