Water and sanitation, soaring food prices and Zimbabwe's political situation are likely to top the agenda of the upcoming 11th African Union (AU) summit, which will open Monday in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Holding under the theme of "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation," the summit is scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 1. Leaders of AU countries are expected to extensively discuss how to face the challenges of providing Africa with clean water and sanitation.
The opening ceremony of the summit would include remarks by the Chair of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGGAD). Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is expected to make a presentation on the theme, according to information from the pre-summit meetings.
Data from the UN have shown that Africa possesses 5.4 trillion cubic meters of water resources, but a lack of fund and facility has made the African water resources largely unexploited.
Officials said African countries have realized the importance of water for the economic and social development and have begun to give priority to water exploitation.
Food crisis will be another hot topic in the African summit. Triggered by poor harvests, high fuel costs, climate change and rising demand, world food prices have increased sharply since the start of this year.
"This sharp increase (of food prices) has had a particularly negative impact on African countries," AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said at the opening ceremony of the 13th AU ministerial meeting held here Friday.
He added that it was crucial for African countries to negotiate with the West with one voice on the food crisis as well as on soaring energy costs.
The AU summit is also widely expected to discuss Zimbabwe's ongoing political situation. Zimbabwe held a single-candidate presidential election run-off on Friday as scheduled despite opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the race.
Jean Ping said there would be no immediate solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe, but the AU was sure to sort it out.
"I am convinced it will be solved in a credible way. But please give us time to solve it with our heads of state," he said.
Moreover, the summit is also expected to discuss a number of issues proposed by member states, including the current status of African peace and security, Africa's political and economic integration, cooperation between the UN and the AU and the Afro-Arab cooperation among others.
The AU, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa, has 53 members. Morocco is the only African country that is not a member.
The bloc was founded in July 2002 to replace the Organization for African Unity established in 1963, aiming at promoting cooperation, development and integration on the African continent.
Source:Xinhua
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