President Paul Kagame yesterday presented his report on the African Union reforms at a Heads of State Retreat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Kagame presented the report titled, "The Imperative to Strengthen Our Union,” on the sidelines of the ongoing 28th African Union Summit in the Ethiopian capital.

In July, last year, at the AU Summit in Kigali, Kagame took on a task to carry out a study and propose recommendations for institutional reforms to improve the efficiency of the Union.

Yesterday’s retreat was chaired by Chad president Idriss Deby, the current chairperson of the Union.

Following the presentation, African leaders present welcomed the proposed reforms, which seek to realign and re-energise the Union to improve performance and connect better with citizens by delivering on the institution’s agenda.

The retreat’s final outcomes are set to be presented for adoption at the summit during a formal session later today, during which the proposal on reforms will be tabled to the General Assembly.

To conduct the study and put together the reforms proposal, Kagame put together a committee made up of experts from various backgrounds to study challenges and propose solutions.

The committee members included: Dr Donald Kaberuka, former president of African Development Bank; Amina J. Mohammed, minister for environment of Nigeria; Mariam Mahamat Nour, minister for economy, planning, and international cooperation of Chad; Cristina Duarte, former minister for finance and planning of Cabo Verde; Dr Acha Leke, senior partner at McKinsey & Co; Dr Carlos Lopes, former executive secretary of UN Economic Commission for Africa; Strive Masiyiwa, executive chair of Econet Wireless; Tito Mboweni, former governor of South African Reserve Bank; and Vera Songwe, regional director for West and Central Africa at the International Finance Corporation.

The summit opened last week with a two-day meeting of permanent representatives to the union which made way for foreign affairs meeting at the same venue. The Heads of State assembly opens today and will run until tomorrow.

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