国际英语资讯:Roundup: African foreign ministers meet over AU reform_时事

国际英语资讯:Roundup: African foreign ministers meet over AU reform

ADDIS ABABA, Sept. 12 -- Foreign Ministers of the African Union (AU) member states on Tuesday met at the headquarters of the pan-African bloc in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to discuss the progress made on the reform of the 55-member union.

During the two-day meeting, the ministers are expected to consider the key reform issues and challenges to agree on the specific outcomes that the ongoing reform process should deliver.

The retreat of the AU Executive Council is expected to prepare for the upcoming summit on the AU reform billed for November 2018 here in Addis Ababa.

Since the launch of the institutional reform process of the Union, significant progress has been made in its implementation, said the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat.

The rationalization of the working methods of the AU assembly of heads of states, improvement in the quality of its deliberations, the strengthening of the interaction between AU and regional economic communities (RECs) towards a better synergy and efficiency in the implementation of continental agenda, are among the achievements, according to the Chairperson of the AU Commission.

In the reform process, AU heads of states adopted a financing proposal for the Union in 2016, and it directs all member states to implement a 0.2 percent levy on eligible imports to finance the African Union in its drive to be self-dependent.