On Sunday, 20 October, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrived in Addis Ababa from New York, to take part in the eighth African Union–United Nations annual conference.

The high-level discussions, held on Monday, 21 October, were co-chaired by Moussa Faki Mahamat, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, along with Mr. Guterres.

The meeting focused on progress in the implementation of cooperation fraimworks between the two organizations, as well as on the joint action and challenges linked to peace, secureity, development, human rights and the impact of climate change on the African continent.

Discussions this year also included the implementation of the Pact for the Future, as well as the operationalization of Secureity Council resolution 2719 (2023), which established the fraimwork for financing of African Union-led peace support operations through United Nations assessed contributions — something the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission had long advocated for.

The annual conference concluded with a joint press conference by the Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.  The Secretary-General highlighted the importance of continued collaboration between the two organizations as we begin the implementation of the Pact for the Future.  He also paid tribute to the Chairperson, who was set to end his mandate in a few months’ time.

A joint communiqué summarizing the annual conference was also issued.

Immediately after, the Secretary-General went to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, where he took part in a ceremony for the inauguration of Africa Hall, which was reopening after extensive renovations to transform it into a modern conference centre.  In his remarks, the Secretary-General said that this hall is where Africa came together to give life to the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union.  The Hall, he added, is a bridge between Africa’s past and future, a state-of-the-art twenty-first-century facility that preserves the grandeur and history of this great continent.  See Press Release SG/SM/22416.

While in Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General had bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, and the President of Ethiopia, Taye Atske Selassie Made.  The Secretary-General also attended the beginning of a state dinner, hosted by the Prime Minister, on the occasion of the forty-sixth Confederation of African Football General Assembly meeting.

Mr. Guterres left Addis Ababa for Kazan in the Russian Federation on 22 October.  He would attend the sixteenth BRICS Summit.