Addis Ababa, 3rd February 2010 – President Bingu Wa Mutharika, on 3rd February 2010, addressed the African Union partners on his main priorities as the Chairperson of the AU for the year 2010. He presented his immediate plan of action to the partners while at his first working visit to the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the presence of Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Mr. Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AUC.   

President Wa Mutharika thanked the partners for their contributions in the development agenda of Africa through the AU Commission. He encouraged the partners to diversify their assistance to the continent by supporting agriculture and food security; development of infrastructure such as transportation and connectivity by road, air, and railways; and improve Information and Communications Technologies. These, he said, are the main priorities within the priorities of his action plan for the next 12 months.   

« I am pleased that the theme of this Summit, “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development” gives us the opportunity to agree on what we can do to position our continent competitively on the world stage”, the Chairperson said, adding that,  this will offer new opportunities for sharing information and technology developed in Africa by Africans, to attain the objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

 With regard to food security, President Wa Mutharika told the partners that Africa is facing enormous challenges; including endemic poverty, food shortages and famine, wars and conflicts, disease, climate change, gender imbalance and capacity constraints. He explained that, these challenges slow down efforts to improve the quality of life of the African people as well as efforts to attain greater participation of Africa in global affairs. To that effect, he called on the partners to help African countries to produce their own food so that more investments will be established in Africa, thereby creating more employment with the production and distribution of goods within the continent.  

 The issue of peace and security was also raised during the meeting especially in conflict areas such as Somalia, Guinea, and Darfur.

 The Chairperson of the African Union promised to work in collaboration with the Commission to implement the different programs sponsored by the AU Partners and to ensure that the funding is well managed and good results obtained.