Diplomats accredited to the African Union in Addis Ababa on Wednesday held a one-day retreat with staff members of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which aimed at strengthening the collaboration between the AU and the United Nations entity.

The envoys are also accredited to ECA.

The retreat aimed to achieve a shared understanding of modalities for effective engagement and coordination between the AU Ambassadors on key initiatives and programmes that the AU and United Nations are implementing.

In her remarks, the Executive Secretary of the ECA, Vera Songwe, emphasised that part of ECA’s work was to support the AU and its member states to ensure that policies within the international system don’t negatively impact on Africa’s initiatives.

"We want to make sure that the ECA is a watchdog on the policies of the international system to ensure that they don’t negatively impact on Africa’s initiatives under AU’s Agenda 2063,” she said.

Some of the initiatives under AU’s Agenda 2063 include: the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Free Movement of People in Africa and the Single Air Transport Market, which are currently being championed under Rwanda’s chairmanship of the African Union.

During the retreat, Rwanda’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to ECA, Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, chaired a session on digital identity.

The session, according to a statement, discussed how digital identity could empower individuals and protect their rights.

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