President Paul Kagame has called on African Union member states to support initiatives and partnerships by African Union Development Agency – NEPAD noting that the two-decade track record of the body makes it the ideal institution to help lead implementation of Agenda 2063.

Kagame was speaking at a virtual meeting, NEPAD@20 Symposium, which reviewed the agency’s work over the last 20 years and the capacities needed to support the African Union's continental development agency.

NEPAD is a development agency of the African Union, coordinating and executing priority regional and continental development projects to promote regional integration towards the accelerated realisation of Agenda 2063 – Africa’s vision and action plan.

President Kagame is the current Chairperson of the agency, now named AUDA-NEPAD.

The President said NEPAD has remained true to its vision over the years with its values part of the reform spirit.

The agency’s performance over the years, he said, makes it ideal to lead the implementation of agenda 2063 on behalf of the AU.

"It is, therefore, no accident that NEPAD officially became the African Union Development Agency in 2018. NEPAD’s track record makes it the ideal institution to help lead implementation of Agenda 2063 on behalf of the African Union,” Kagame said.

The Head of State called on AU member states to continue supporting the agency’s initiatives and activities.

"I call on member states to continue supporting the multiple partnerships that AUDA-NEPAD has developed. AUDA-NEPAD’s agreement with the new CFTA Secretariat is of particular importance. Honouring our statutory commitments as member states is not only our duty, it is good value for money. Doing so also facilitates resource mobilization more broadly,” he said.

NEPAD was established as a socio-economic flagship programme of the African Union in July 2001.

At the time, NEPAD was designed to place Africa firmly on a progressive developmental trajectory leading to accelerated socio-economic development.

In 2018, a decision was officially adopted to transform the NEPAD into the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) as part of the overall institutional reforms of the AU to deliver against the development priorities articulated by the Union.