The admission into the Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) which had been scheduled for Saturday was pushed to July when the African Union holds its next General Assembly. Under the new arrangement, AUDA will be fully funded from the African Union budget and will be required file quarterly reports on performance. Ahead of the Summit, Mr Odinga though had called on African countries to take advantage of the improving “peace dividend” to focus on infrastructure. Mr Odinga had been scheduled to vouch for liberal air transport under the AU’s Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM), as his initial pet project. Yet air transport is cited as one of the areas that could help raise continental trade from the paltry 14 per cent.

Source: Daily Nation February 09, 2019 17:15 UTC