President Kibaki in Equatorial Guinea for AU summit

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President Mwai Kibaki has arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea to attend the 17th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) which opens Friday.

The summit, whose theme is "Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development", is geared towards providing better environment and skills for African youths to excel and contribute meaningfully to peace andsecurity, socio-economic growth and sustainable development of the continent.

During the Summit the Heads of State and Government of the African Union are expected to ratify the African Youth Charter and endorse the implementation of the medium term priorities in the plan of action for the African Youth Decade.

In Kenya, the main policy documents on youth include the Kenya National Youth Policy 2007 and the ‘Youth Employment Marshal Plan’ which are aligned to the country’s development blueprint, Vision 2030.

Under the Youth Employment Marshal Plan, the Kenya Government aims at creating 500,000 new jobsper year through initiatives, collaborations and partnerships between the public and private sectors.

Through the Youth Employment Marshal Plan, a revolving fund under the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) has facilitated entrepreneurship training, marketing of youth enterprisesproducts and services, provision of commercial infrastructure and also youth employment in the international labour market.

Kenya, which is a signatory to the African Youth Charter, is establishing youth empowerment centres in all the Constituencies. Already 104 such centres are ready for youth to access ICT, recreational facilities, counseling and health and training in creative arts.

Kenya is endeavoring to complete ratification of the African Youth Charter and is also developing indicators to monitor implementation of national youth policies. The government has committed 15 per cent of its national budget to health as per Abuja-15 declaration.

Alongside the official theme of the summit, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union will also consider and discuss the report of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) on its activities in Africa. The PSC, which Kenya is a founding member, is a standing decision-making organ for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts in Africa. It is also a collective and early warning arrangement to facilitate timely and efficient response to conflicts and various crisis situations in the continent.

They will discuss ways of strengthening the continent’s capacity to cope with the effects of climate change and management of disasters. Majority of African countries rely heavily on their natural resource base for development hence the need for Africa to formulate policies and initiatives that will protect and maintain its environment in order to promote sustainable development.

- Presidential Press Service