The African heads of state started yesterday their assembly at the new African Union headquarters in Addis-Ababa, the Ethiopian capital under the theme “Boosting Intra-African Trade”.
AU Chairperson Jean Ping said in his opening speech that the Union needs to be stronger.He added that the AU needs substantial and predictable resources and to speed up economic integration of the continent.
Mr Ping noted that conflict prevention should be at the center of all policies in the AU.
The Heads of State as well as heads of delegations of the 54 African Union member countries started the summit with a tree planting ceremony to sensitize Africans on the need to preserve the forests to fight drought on the continent.