The Republic of Cote d’Ivoire acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) during the 22^nd Summit of the Committee of Heads of State and Government participating in the APRM, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 29 January 2015. Cote d’Ivoire is the 35^th African Country to accede to the APRM.

On behalf of the APR Forum, H.E Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa, who stood in for the Chairperson of the APR Forum, welcomed and congratulated the Republic Cote d’Ivoire for taking the commendable step in acceding to the APRM.

The 22^nd Summit of the APR Forum also witnessed the nomination of and acceptance by Kenya as the new Vice-Chair of the APR Forum as well as the appointment of two new Panel Members, Honourable Brigitte Mabandla (South Africa) and Chief (Mrs.) Chinyere E. Asika (Nigeria.) The incoming Panel Members respectively replace Ms. Baleka Mbete, current Speaker of the South African National Assembly, and Ambassador Professor Okon Edet Uya, who passed away in April 2014.

Honourable Mabandla is the current Chairperson of the National Orders Advisory Council of South Africa. She served as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development of the Republic of South Africa from 2004 to 2008.

Chief (Mrs.) Asika is a Board Member and Trustee in various Nigerian organizations. She has formally served as Senior Special Assistant to the President on NEPAD, in the Cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

H.E Jacob Zuma also announced the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer of the APRM Secretariat, Professor. Adebayo Olukoshi who until recently was Director of the UN African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP). He is a Professor of International Economic Relations. Until March 2009, he was Executive Secretary of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).

The President of South Africa, H.E Zuma congratulated and welcomed the newly elected officials and expressed confidence in their ability to take the APRM to greater heights, considering their antecedents. 

He also expressed the Forum’s his gratitude to the outgoing interim CEO of the APRM Secretariat and Head of the NEPAD Agency, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki for providing strategic direction and guidance to the Secretariat during the transitional period. He opined that the institutional development and growth strategies adopted by Dr. Mayaki will significantly assist the incoming CEO on the effective implementation of the APRM agenda. According to him, Dr. Mayaki has guided the Secretariat through a challenging period and has built a solid foundation for future growth and success. He said the Forum sincerely appreciates Dr. Mayaki’s leadership of the Secretariat.

The APR Forum Chairperson continued by conveying his gratitude for the resilience of the Secretariat staff during a difficult period of transformation and is optimistic about how they will build on a foundation of innovation to succeed in the future, built by the NEPAD CEO and encouraged them to put their best feet forward at all times. He said measures are in place to turn around the fortune of the continental Mechanism while broadening the scope for peer review.

The APR Forum meeting was held on the margins of the 24^th Summit of the African Union which was themed “2015 Year of Women’s Empowerment and Development towards Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an initiative of the African Union, was established in March 2003 by the Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). It is an instrument for self-monitoring and good governance for Member States. Currently, the APRM has thirty-four (35) member states that have voluntarily acceded. Of these countries, seventeen (17) have completed their self-assessment exercise and have been peer-reviewed by the Forum of Heads of State and Government.