Macky Sall, the Senegalese President and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) 2022-2023, has honoured Amani Abou Zeid, Commissioner for Energy and Infrastructure at the African Union.
Abou Zeid was awarded the Order of the Republic of Senegal, with the rank of officer, in recognition of her efforts to promote infrastructure, energy, and digitization projects in all African countries.
Speaking to the press after the ceremony, which took place at the headquarters of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the 36th African Union Summit, Abou Zeid said: “I was pleased today to be honoured by President Macky Sall of Senegal at the end of his term as Chairman of the African Union.”
“President Macky Sall on an exceptional basis honoured me with the decoration of the Order of the Republic of Senegal, with the rank of officer and host.” This is a great honor not only for me but also for all the working groups of the African Union’s Infrastructure, Energy, and Digitization Commission, as well as for the African Union, and especially for Egyptian women,” she said.
During the awarding ceremony, President Macky Sall noted that the honor was for the great efforts he had personally seen for many years even before assuming the rotating presidency of the African Union (2022-2023) to promote infrastructure, energy, and digitization on the continent and that he had been determined to honor it for some time. He found that today is the best time to imitate this honour.
Abou Zeid said that she thanked President Sall for his efforts during his presidency of the African Union, as well as for the renaissance and the great attention he pays to infrastructure, energy and digitization projects in Senegal, and his personal interest in the issue of financing infrastructure in the African continent,
She noted in this regard that the Senegalese capital hosted a summit a few days ago on infrastructure in Africa.
Dr. Abou Zeid is the African Union’s Commissioner for Energy, Transport, Tourism, and Information and Communication Technology and has been elected for two consecutive terms by the African Union’s Executive Council.
She has worked for over 35 years in leadership positions in high-level international organizations, such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with a focus on infrastructure and energy programs.
During her career, she has gained a rare combination of expertise from across Africa, France, the United Kingdom and Canada. She has run large and complex development programs, including the largest portfolio of operations for the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Abou Zeid has a master’s degree in business administration from the French University for African Development (Singour University),
She has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and a doctorate in social and economic development from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. She also holds a degree in literature from the University of the Sorbonne-Paris IV.
