President William Ruto has championed for a more integrated, prosperous and stable Africa and drummed support for Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
President William Ruto also called for an end to dependence
President William Ruto with visiting African heads of state and other dignitaries
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The president who was speaking during the African Union mid-year coordination meeting in Nairobi noted that the continent has all it takes to
Championing Pan-Africanism- a cause that he holds dearly, Ruto noted that it is regrettable that more than five decades after independence, the continent still relies on external funding to drive its agenda.
“We must free the AU from constraints so that it can pursue urgent and critical interventions in the continent using internally-generated resources.
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"We are a busy continent that is going places; the young, clean, green continent of the future, and we are determined to lead our march into this future as a united, empowered contributor of sustainable solutions to global problems. We are reasoning together, generating effective solutions, implementing them, facing our challenges head-on, making progress, and getting results," Ruto added.
He added that it is simply not right for over 60 per cent of AU programmes to be financed by well-meaning overseas partners, noting that real sovereignty can only be achieved when the continent stops the trend of relying on its well-meaning overseas.
The Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting of the African Union at the UN Complex in Gigiri, Nairobi County on Sunday, July 16, 2023.
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“The chronic dependence on well-meaning partners is inconsistent with this aspiration.”
Africa's successes
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On African integration, Ruto hailed Africa Continental Free Trade Area as a success.
"The most compelling signal that African integration is unstoppable and that it will open doors for unprecedented socioeconomic transformation is the progress we have made in implementing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area. We must all be proud of this magnificent project, a historic achievement by and for ourselves, whose positive effects will reverberate throughout the world for a long time to come.
“This single market will lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty and boost incomes…"We are a busy continent that is going places; the young, clean, green continent of the future, and we are determined to lead our march into this future as a united, empowered contributor of sustainable solutions to global problems. We are reasoning together, generating effective solutions, implementing them, facing our challenges head-on, making progress, and getting results," Ruto added.
Present were Presidents Azali Assoumani (Comoros), Ali Bongo (Gabon), Abdel Fattah (Egypt), Macky Sall (Senegal), Ismail Guelleh (Djibouti) and Bola Tinubu (Nigeria), African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki, among others.
