Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has joined more than 30 Heads of State in Uganda for the 15th Ordinary Session of African Union (AU) Summit which kick-starts on Sunday.
The summit, which is taking place under the theme "Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa", is expected to deal with some of the issues that were raised during the 17th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU held earlier this week.
The meeting of Africa's leadership takes place just two weeks after Uganda was hit by terrorist acts which killed more than 70 people. Ugandan authorities have, however, assured the country is ready to host a safe summit despite the recent suicide bombings.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said it was expected that discussions by Heads of State and Government might see the AU emerging with a common African position on the subject of maternal, infant and child health for their report to be presented at the UN General Assembly in September.
It said Zuma would also participate in the 23rd Summit of the NEPAD Heads of States and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) and the 13th Summit of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) of Heads of State and Government.
During the session, issues to be discussed will include the outcome of the integration of NEPAD into the AU, the strategic direction and operating model for the NEPAD agency and the promotion of Regional Infrastructure in Africa.
There will also be an expected strong focus on resolving the conflicts in Sudan and Somalia. The AU last week appealed to the UN Security Council and international community to help in capacity building and resources mobilisation to stabilise the war-torn Somalia.
South Africa will also invest time in discussions on this aspect of climate change - in the run-up to the Conference of the Parties 16 (COP-16) to be held in Mexico. South Africa will host COP 17 next year.
Matters relating to the Committee on Scale of Assessment, which is chaired by South Africa and looks into the review of the AU member-states' financial contributions to the budget of the AU, would also be looked at.
