When the 22nd African Union (AU) Summit opened on January 30 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, delegates were taken to the future through an email by AU Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Dubbed “the email from the year 2063: a glimpse into the future,” it was a wishful statement reflecting the desire and aspiration for an advanced, developed and empowered Africa, ranked the world’s third largest economy.

Part of the text read: “Economic integration, coupled with infrastructure development, saw intra-Africa trade mushrooming, from less than 12 per cent in 2013 to approaching 50 per cent by 2045. This integration was further consolidated with the growth of commodity exchanges and continental commercial giants. Starting with the African pharmaceutical company, Pan African companies now not only dominate our domestic market of over two billion people, but they have overtaken multi-nationals from the rest of the world in their own markets.”

The message was in line with Agenda 2063, which is a global strategy to optimise use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of the continent’s people. This and the Post-2015 Agenda were key items for discussion. Post 2015 is a process led by the United Nations that aims to help define the future global development framework that will succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight global growth targets which come to an end in 2015.

Dr Dlamini Zuma cautioned that 2014 was the first year of the next 50 years, and what Africans did now would determine what the continent looked like in 2063.

In addition to discussing conflict and efforts for peace in the hotspots of Africa, the AU Summit, themed “Agriculture and Food Security”, also had an upbeat focus on how it can capitalise on Africa’s vast resources for the betterment of its agricultural sector.

They talked about dropping the cup-in-hand mentality and looking in-ward for national and regional solutions and pledged to do more to promote, increase funding and enhance Agriculture as one of the key drivers of economic transformation.

The AU also marked the 10th anniversary of the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) adopted in 2003. CAADP is a pan-African framework for revitalising agriculture, food security and nutrition, which aims to assist African countries to reach a higher path of economic growth through agriculture-led development.

The Summit noted that the NEPAD Agency had been instrumental in helping bring up agriculture on the national, regional and international policy agenda.

A joint NEPAD/AUC publication – Agriculture in Africa – was launched on the margins of the Summit. It was developed within the context of sustaining the CAADP momentum and especially to inform decisions on key issues that will drive agriculture into to the next decade.

Addressing media at the launch, NEPAD CEO Dr Ibrahim Mayaki said that in the next 30 years, the world’s population will be about 9 billion and that Africa which was capable of not only meeting its own food needs, would be a key player in the response to the global challenge of feeding an increasing world population.

“Africa’s agriculture must undergo a transformation of structure. This means a bold shift in policy, sustainable investment in infrastructure, institution and technology to overcome the challenges which Africa’s agriculture groups have, suchas low productivity and low competitiveness in these sectors,” said Dr Mayaki.

The newly appointed Chairperson of the African Union, and President of Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said African Countries should combine efforts in order to increase cultivated areas and improve productivity through the modernisation of rural infrastructure.

Closing Session of the AU Assembly on 31 January in the newly named Nelson Mandela Hall

At the close of the Summit, the AU Assembly formally approved the NEPAD Report by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, in his capacity as Chairperson of the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC).

Among the decisions approved are NEPAD’s report on activities for 2013 and the Strategic Plan 2014 -2017 which is aligned to that of the AU Commission. Delegates advised the Agency to develop the means to monitor the implementation of partnership commitments, so as to track the effective delivery of commitments to Africa.

They welcomed the finalisation of the study on Domestic Resource Mobilisation and urged NEPAD in conjunction with UN’s Development Programme (UNDP) and Commission for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as well as the African Development Bank (AfDB) to engage member states and stakeholders on the dissemination of findings on the study.