The Workshop on the African Union Commodities Strategy and meeting of the Commodities Task Force, organized by the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission (AUC) commenced today at the Hilton Nairobi, Kenya. The main Objective of the Validation Workshop is to validate the key recommendations of the Commodities strategy with Private sector stakeholders and other key actors, as well as deliberate on the effective implementation of the strategy.

On behalf of H.E Mrs. Fatima Haram Acyl, Commissioner Trade and Industry, Mr. Nadir Merah, Head of Trade Division welcomed the participants to the Validation workshop. In his speech he recalled the decision of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in May 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where Heads of State and Government came up with the African Union Agenda 2063. Bearing in mind that the Commodity Strategy is one of the flagship Programmes of the Ten Year implementation Plan of Agenda 2063, he stated that “ The AUC was mandated to develop a strategy to use commodities as a driver for achieving the structural social and economic transformation of Africa and Agenda 2063”. He added that the meeting was expected to come up with recommendations towards the effective implementation of the strategy through an implementation mechanism and an Action Plan.

The AU Commodities Strategy reviews the state of play for high-priority commodities sectors in Africa, namely agriculture, mining, and energy. It considers current trends and outlooks, as well as sector-specific opportunities and challenges. The Strategy lays out sector-specific as well as cross-cutting strategic interventions to catalyze commodity-led industrialization and navigate volatile commodity prices. The draft strategy will be submitted to the policy organs for consideration next month.