Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry headed to Rwanda’s capital Kigali on Tuesday to attend the 27th African Union summit that will be held on 17 and 18 July.
Prior to the summit, Shoukry will attend the 29th Executive Council for foreign ministers from 13 to 15 July.
The theme of this year’s African Union summit will be ‘2016: African Year of Human Rights with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women’, as recommended by several human rights organisations in celebration of the adoption and enforcement of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
The summit will mainly discuss and assess the situation of peace and security in Africa.
Additionally, the summit will host a closed session over continental integration and the free trade zones in Africa. Four judges for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights will be elected, in which two Egyptians are nominated.
The Egyptian nominees include Amany Abo-Zaid for the post of Commissioner of Infrastructure and Energy, and Mona Al-Garf for the post of Commissioner of Commerce and Industry.
Moreover, country leaders, foreign ministers, finance ministers, and officials from several governments will study the funding of the union’s budget during the summit. The decision to study the union’s budget was taken during the 26th Ordinary Session of the summit in Addis Ababa last January. The Ordinary Session was held in the presence of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, discussing counter-terrorism efforts across the continent.
The African Union passport will be launched in July, allowing holders to easily travel from one country to another without the need to acquire a visa.
