Addis  Ababa May 25, 2013 – The Golden Jubilee celebrations of the African Union kicked off in the Ethiopian Capital today, with a special Heads of State breakfast meeting of the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) Agency. NEPAD is the technical body of the Africa Union.

The NEPAD Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC), chaired by Senegal’s President Mack Sall, provides leadership to the NEPAD process and sets policies, priorities and the programmes of action. African Heads of state are elected on the basis of the AU five regions.

One of the key highlights of the breakfast meeting was the official launch, by President Macky Sall and the Chairperson of the AU Commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini, of a web-based portal called VPiC, short for Virtual PIDA Information Centre. VPiC is an innovative approach to storing and disseminating information about the AU’s regional infrastructure programmes. 

VPiC will allow easy access to up-to-date information on the implementation status of the 51 PIDA (Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa) projects, and users to the site will be able to search for projects by name, country or Regional Economic Community (REC).

President Macky Sall stressed the importance of VPiC as a critical tool to gather and avail information for all stakeholders from policy makers to investors.

PIDA was developed by the AUC, NEPAD Agency and Africa Development Bank (AfDB) to enhance cross-border trade, share resources and co-ordinate the construction of mutually beneficial infrastructure on the African continent.

The PIDA regional projects will be implemented between 2020 and 2040. The intention is to encourage regional integration and interconnection, which will facilitate improved trading and in turn lead to greater socio-economic development. 

In his presentation on VPiC NEPAD’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Ibrahim Mayaki said “Most of the projects in our priority action plan will be reflected in terms of background, financial reports and progress of implementation. VPiC will fill a vacuum of vital information to investors in Africa and outside the Continent.”

To date, information on PIDA has been spread across various internet sources, making it difficult to gain a clear picture of the progress made to date. VPic provides a single host, maintained by all stakeholders involved.

Other items on the HSGOC meeting included a report on the study of domestic resource mobilisation, as well as a brief summary of outcomes of the BRICS Summit by South African President Jacob Zuma.

“The BRICS countries highlighted that they would strengthen their cooperation with the African Continent, thus ensuring that Africa realises its full potential to industrialise and rapidly increase levels of infrastructure development, premised on our priority projects, PIDA and PICI,” said President Zuma.

May 25 or Africa Freedom Day, is marked throughout the Continent as a special day when Africans reflects on its liberation from colonial rule as well as the pan Africa. This years’ event was an opportunity to critically take stock and assess the positive gains made in the economic and political development of Africa in the last five decades. 

Attended by high level world leaders, among them the US Secretary of State John Kerry, dozens of African leaders and other dignitaries, the AU Summit, themed Pan Africanism is the culmination of various activities debates and entertainment.