Pretoria - The 28th African Union (AU) Summit opened on Monday at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
The two-day summit held under the theme, "Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth,” is being attended by several Heads of State, including President Jacob Zuma.
The summit is expected to lead to the election of a new commission chairperson to replace outgoing leader Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma as well as deliberate on a request made by Morocco to join the AU after more than three decades of absence from the continental body.
Dlamini Zuma used her opening address to speak to the theme of investing in Africa’s youth.
With the continent having about 200 million young men and women aged between 15 to 24 years and by 2025, a quarter of the world’s youth under 25 will be African, Dlamini Zuma said the continent will remain young while the rest of the world ages.
“This is the comparative advantage we have, which may be translated into a demographic dividend.
“To harness this resource, we must provide all African boys, girls and young people with opportunities to be in school, complete secondary education, have access to vocational training and universities, and to expand their knowledge of science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
“Within this, we must pay special attention to creating opportunities for girls and young women, so that we use the full potential of all our resources,” said Dlamini Zuma, head of the 54 member organisation.
Another imperative, she said, was to address youth unemployment though various programmes.
“Our programmes of beneficiation and economic diversification, of agricultural modernization and the development of agro-processing, must target the creation of jobs and economic opportunities for young entrepreneurs.”
The African child, the out-going AUC Commissioner said, must also see the blue oceans economy, as part of natural heritage and for possible career paths.
The same goes for the country’s celestial space and careers in the space sciences.
The African Development Bank estimates that “reducing Africa's youth unemployment rate to that of adults, would translate to a 10% to 20% increase in the continent's GDP.”
“Youth, therefore, have responsibilities to learn, to read, to serve, to participate, to innovate, to build, and to create. They have a responsibility to be organized, at local, national and continental levels, so they can help drive Agenda 2063.”
Dlamini Zuma also hailed progress on areas from free movement of persons to railway development to ending child marriage.
The chairperson hailed the fastest economic growth being registered by African countries including Ethiopia, DR Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda, which are also amongst the fastest-growing economies in the world.
She commended 13 African countries for making a commitment to lead in launching the single African aviation market in 2017.
Dlamini Zuma noted that countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa have started to open their skies for fellow African countries, while urging more countries to join in.
She also hailed progress on gender equality and women's empowerment, improvements in their representation in the public spheres, reduction of maternal and infant mortality, the push for financial inclusion and economic participation, and for land rights. – SAnews.gov.za
