The African Union on Tuesday set up another institution the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), bringing to nine the number of its official bodies.
The formation of the council took three and a half years, with Kenya's Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai serving as an interim chair.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, who is serving as the rotating chairman of the African Union, described the transition of ECOSOCC from interim to permanent status as reflecting the union's deep commitment to see it that the African Union is enabled to deliver on its promises and objectives.
"The launching of ECOSOCC today marks another important and crucial step in the consolidation of the institutional architecture of our union," said the Tanzanian president while addressing the launching of the council in Dar es Salaam.
"This is the first time that an institution such as the African Union that began as an inter-governmental organization is incorporating non-state actors as full partners in the policy-making enterprise," he added.
Since the founding of the African Union in July 2002, the African Union has so far set up nine official bodies that include the AU Assembly; AU Commission; AU Executive Council; Pan-African Parliament; African Court of Justice; Peace and Security Council; Economic, Social and Cultural Council; Permanent Representatives Committee, and Specialized Technical Committee.
The ECOSOCC was described as more or less a civil society parliament made up of elected representatives of civil society organizations from AU member states.
Twenty-five of the 53 AU member states have participated in the transition and formation of the ECOSOCC. These include Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo Republic, Cote d' Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
Source:Xinhua
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