The meeting was co-chaired by Egypt and Norway
Thank you all for attending and contributing to this second meeting of the group of friends of the AU-UN partnership.
Our discussions brought up several important themes, not least the need to make progress on predictable and sustainable financing of peacebuilding.
It would indeed be a huge, missed opportunity for peacebuilding and sustaining peace in Africa, if the General Assembly is unable to reach consensus on this very important issue.
As we also have heard today, the UN system and the AU Commission have made great strides to ensure a more predictable, structured, and strategic cooperation.
We now need greater political support from Member States- and this is exactly the purpose of the Groups of Friends; to generate increased understanding, support and backing of Member States to the UN Secretariat and the AU Commission in their efforts to deepen and widen the partnership.
Since 2002, the AU has assumed greater responsibility for maintaining peace and security in Africa, including through peace support operations.
AU’s ability, and willingness, to mount counter-terrorism and peace enforcement missions are increasingly important in rapidly changing conflict dynamics. Especially given that such operations fall outside the scope and borders of traditional UN peacekeeping operations.
And today’s discussion leaves us with no doubts: the AU has made progress on a number of fronts. It has taken significant steps to ensure that the Peace Fund is now operational.
It has also made advances on the AU Compliance Framework project with UN OHCHR: drawing up a code of conduct, developing disciplinary processes, and beginning to roll them out in existing missions.
Next year will be crucial for the discussion on predictable, sustainable, and flexible funding, including for AU-led and regional missions.
The SGs report is coming up in April- and we are also expecting much from the report and recommendations of the Issoufou-panel.
We are confident that progress can be made- and we hope this Group can contribute through providing an informal setting to discuss: any aspect of the partnership, progress made, and where further efforts are needed in 2023.
Thank you all for joining us.