Meeting of the G8++ Africa Clearing House in Addis Ababa
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, November 4, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The African Union (AU) and the United Kingdom (UK) under its G8 Presidency, will on 6 November 2013, at AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, co-host the annual meeting of the G8++ Africa Clearing House (ACH). The aim of the meeting is to coordinate donors' and partners' engagement with the AU Commission and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) - Regional Mechanisms (RMs) on African peace support operations in order to maximize coherence and impact.
The meeting brings together representatives of the Group of eight most industrialized economies of the Northern Hemisphere, collectively known as the G8: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK and USA, who will be joined by representatives of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. The European Union and United Nations will also participate in the deliberations.
On the African side, participants include the current African Union Chair, Ethiopia; representatives of the AU Commission and RECs/RMs; the Peace and Security Council Chair for November 2013, Equatorial Guinea; as well as Africa's major Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) to peace missions in the continent and beyond, including: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, Chad, Gabon, Congo and Cameroon.
The meeting is an integral part of the G8 calendar and an important follow-up to this year's G8 Summit, held on 17-18 June 2013, in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, under the presidency of the United Kingdom. It will be followed on 7 November 2013 by the G8 Experts Group meeting, scheduled to take place at the UK Embassy in Ethiopia.
The last G8++ Africa Clearing House meeting took place in Washington DC, on 13-14 November 2012, during the G8 Presidency of the USA. It focused on maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and Africa's Maritime strategy; building Africa's peacekeeping capabilities, with a special focus on the Continent's regional standby forces; the protection of civilians and preventing gender-based violence in conflict zones on the continent.
The Africa Clearing House was established in 2004 to provide a multi-lateral forum to exchange information on security assistance and cooperation programs for the African continent. It aims to become the premier mechanism for continued information exchange, cooperation and collaboration between Africa and its bilateral and multilateral partners. Through working more closely together, both parties hope to enhance the ACH's ability to deliver consensus on a range of issues and make progress towards improving the AU's capacity to respond to peace and security issues across the continent.
Journalists are invited to cover the meeting's opening ceremony, on 6 November 2013, at 9:00 a.m., in Conference Room 1 of the New AU Office Complex and Conference Centre.