ADDIS ABABA, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The African Union (AU) and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) have expressed commitment to strengthening their cooperation in different arenas, including security and economic development among others.
This came on Friday during the meeting between Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, and Michaelle Jean, Secretary General of OIF, on the premises of the headquarters of the pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.
The two sides have deliberated on ways of further enhancing their cooperation on peace and security, economic development, climate change, migration, education, and multilateralism among others.
The AU and the OIF signed two agreements in 2000 and 2005, which have enabled them to cooperate in different fields, including among others, peace and security, good governance, elections, education, and culture.
After their meeting, the officials told a joint press conference that in light of the changing global situation the two institutions are keen to enhance their partnership to cooperate on various areas.
"The prevention and resolution of conflicts are also part of the cooperation that we have. In fact, we also cooperate in the economic field; the AU has its Agenda 2063, and we have projects and programs; and therefore, we are also cooperating with OIF in that area," said Mahamat.
In their partnership to address challenges faced by African youth, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, said, "We need to work for them (the youth); we need to ensure education, training, vocational training, creation of jobs for them. These are the problems on which we are working together."
"And also to fight against terrorism and extremism, it is ambitious program but we are working together with the IOF," he said, "We are going to update the instruments of the cooperation that we have looking at in the light evolution in the world, as well as the evolution of our strategies."
OIF was created in 1970, with mission of embodying solidarity between its 84 member states and governments (58 members and 26 observers), which together represent over one-third of the United Nations' member states and account for a population of over 900 million people, including 274 million French speakers.
Michaelle Jean said OIF is keen to enhance its partnership with the AU to address the various social, political and economic challenges on the African continent.
Reiterating that the two sides are working together on issues of common concern, the Secretary General said OIF attaches great importance to the partnership it has forged with AU.
"We want to enhance this cooperation, build the capacity so that on the ground we can work together, because there are so many dangers out there," she said, "We want the various crises to be ended, we want to carry out advocacy and pull our efforts and looking at the situation in the world we believe that it is the necessary to enhance our cooperation."
"And we do advocacy for robust multilateralism so that we coordinate our actions and also ensure that the youth get education, vocational training, create jobs, entrepreneurship for them because it is the stability and security of countries that stake,"
"We are going to mobilize other partners also to ensure economic growth and also the sense of human growth and development that is there, which is viable," she noted.