President of Mauritania Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has been elected as the new Chairperson of the African Union. The election took place at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government Summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is among the continent’s leaders that are attending the two-day summit which will end on Sunday.
Ghazouani has taken over from the president of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani. Ghazouani says he’s ready for the responsibility.
“In terms of Agenda 2063, it reflects our plans to create the Africa we want – an integrated and prosperous Africa, where peace prevails and where citizens are the leaders of the continent as power in the international arena. The success of our plans and strategies to achieve this noble goal depends on an effective use of human resources to have an effective quality educational system that is open to new technologies,” says Ghazouani.
VIDEO|AU Opening Ceremony of the 37th Ordinary Session:
International Relations Minister, Naledi Pandor has welcomed the smooth transfer of the chairmanship.
“Countries have to look at the proportion of their budgets that they are making available to education. In South Africa, I think we have done well. We have achieved universal education for children for 10 years of compulsory education. What we need to look at now is the theme which says skills fit for the 21st century – skills like engineering, information communication, technology, artificial intelligence. We need to ensure we have appropriate human resources for them.”
