Excellencies, 
Excellency, Mr. President El-Sisi, outgoing President of the African Union;
Majesties;
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of State and Government;
Excellency, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission;
Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations;
Honorable Mohammed Shtayyeh, Prime Minister of the State of Palestine representing President Mahmoud Abbas;
Excellencies, former Heads of State and Government;
Distinguished Heads of AU Organs;
Distinguished Heads of Regional Economic Communities;
Distinguished Commissioners of the African Union;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen ;
My African brothers and sisters,

I come to you in all humility because of the great honor you confer on South Africa. On behalf of South Africans, I gladly accept your collective decision to entrust us with the presidency of the African Union for 2020.

In carrying out this heavy responsibility, I will constantly trust in your support, your wisdom and cooperation, particularly from the newly elected Bureau members.

I would like to thank our host, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the government and people of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, for the excellent hospitality extended to me and my delegation since our arrival in Addis Ababa. 

I would also like to thank my brother, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for the remarkable way in which he presided over the work of the AU during his tenure.

South Africa first assumed the chairmanship of the African Union at its historic relaunch in South Africa in 2002, and it was President Thabo Mbeki, with us here today, who assumed the presidency. We are deeply touched that you are once again giving us the opportunity to take the helm of this august governing body of our continent and the confidence you place in us today.
 
Excellencies, we are aware of the importance of this mission, as well as the weight of history here in Ethiopia, a country that has such deep ties with Africa's distant past.

In the heights of northern Ethiopia, from the 1st century, our ancestors tamed the wild nature to cultivate the land, raise herds, mint their own currencies, create their alphabet, build imposing monuments that we still admire in date and forge vast trade routes throughout the region.

With the passage and evolution of time, our ancestors understood that any real progress, any real development could only be achieved through trade, by working together.

Today, we are on the cusp of the greatest leap forward in continental unity since the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) that we adopted last year will allow us to work together, through intra-African trade, to revitalize industrialization and pave the way for the integration of Africa in the global economy as a significant player.

This is the realization of the dream of our ancestors: to see the rich resources of Africa exploited in the collective interest of Africans.

In truth, our continent is rich.

Africa is rich in natural resources, yes, but it is also rich in history, intellectual products, culture, sense of humanity and human capital.

We Africans living in this new era must take greater responsibility to ensure that Africa's riches do not become sources of poverty, that these blessings do not become curses, that our riches do not become our loss. .

It is up to us to build a prosperous Africa at peace with itself.

An Africa capable of realizing the aspirations that your august assembly enshrined in Agenda 2063.

An Africa connected by vast networks of roads and railways, allowing the free movement of goods, people and services.

An Africa whose vast tracts of land are dedicated to agriculture, trade and the existence of its people.

An Africa whose mighty waterways are harnessed to generate electricity that is distributed to all towns, villages, cities, homes and businesses.

In assuming the chairmanship of the AU, we have made it our priority to foster the ongoing progress in the African Decade of Action.

We wish to deepen our common work to strengthen the unity of our continent and to advance inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

Our collective work to ensure political and economic unity, good governance and peace should be consolidated by supporting integration, industrialization, economic development, trade and investment.

To achieve this priority, we will host the 13th Extraordinary Summit on the AfCFTA immediately following the Extraordinary Summit to Silencing the Guns in May 2020.

We will work closely with President Mahamadou Issofou of Niger, in his capacity as AfCFTA Champion to the AU, in order to finalize the outstanding issues in the agreement.

We must all ensure that the AfCFTA does not become a conduit for products with minimal African added value to enter our local markets as a form of continental integration. 

There must be reasonable standards that ensure a product is Proudly Made in Africa.

We need to allow African businesses to be on a level playing field to be able to operate in a larger market without being handicapped by regulatory fragmentation. This must be an integral part of rebalancing global trade relations.

The era of colonialism and economic imperialism, which made Africa a mere stop in the global assembly line, is over.

The success of the ZLECA will depend on the development of infrastructures.

We must all be at the forefront of realizing the President's Infrastructure Initiative, so that priority projects with high impact serve as catalysts for the AfCFTA.

In addition to trade integration, we have set ourselves the goal of supporting the green growth of our continent to ensure that Africa takes advantage of the opportunities presented by the green transition.

These include new energy industries, materials engineering, circular economy, sustainable agriculture and clean production.

The 4th industrial revolution offers our continent immense possibilities. The adoption of digital technologies will improve competitiveness and create new opportunities for inclusive growth.

Millions of young people on our continent are born digital and we need to lead a skills revolution in Africa that will enable a breakthrough in our economy in the future. To realize this important part of our responsibilities, we should consider establishing an African Artificial Intelligence Forum, which also encompasses the Diaspora.

Excellencies,

In this year when the African Women's Decade concludes, we must advance the economic and financial inclusion of women, we must overcome the scourge of gender-based violence. 

We want to emphasize the requirement to enforce the commitments made in the world on this subject.

We have heard the cries of women and girls in Africa who want to be freed from the yoke of patriarchy, violence and economic exclusion.

We remember what the Egyptian novelist and activist Nawal el Saadawi said: women are half of society. There can be no revolution without women, there can be no democracy without women.

We intend to work closely with President Akufo-Addo of Ghana to ensure that the interests of women are taken into account and we would like the years 2020 to 2030 to be declared the Decade of Financial and Economic Inclusion for African Women.

I think that the Pan African Women's Organization (PAWO), founded in 1962, a year before the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to promote women's rights and equality, should be consolidated for him enable it to play its true role. 

We need to find more concrete and lasting ways to empower women on our continent: ways that go beyond the clichés and pulpit talk we are used to.

Public and private markets offer great opportunities since they account for 30% of the GDP of many countries on the continent.

Agenda 2063 wants at least 25% of government procurement to go to women-owned businesses, but so far they only have 1%. 

That must change. 

It is not unreasonable to wish for a law on the preferential allocation of public contracts to women-owned businesses and for the establishment of preferential trade and customs regimes for women.

The empowerment of the women of our continent can be assured. It must be insured!

The representation of women in the decision-making structures of our governments, parliaments and other sectors is far too low.

The women of our continent want and demand to occupy their rightful place in all decision-making structures. They deserve to be included at 50%. 

Those of us who have enabled women to participate in decision-making structures have benefited enormously from their innate wisdom, insight and energy. The women of our continent want to play a real role in its development. We must not prevent them.

Violence against women continues to plague our continent.

We will make the adoption of an AU Convention on violence against women a priority, as well as the ratification by Member States of international protocols that prohibit discrimination against women.

We will support good governance and democracy by building on the excellent work of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) which we have been asked to chair.

We have 40 states that have joined the APRM. We will urge Member States that have not yet ratified to do so in order to achieve universal membership by 2030.

We will contribute to the promotion of peace and security in our collective effort to silence the guns.

Together with the AU Peace and Security Council, the AU Commission and the efforts of all members, we will strive to resolve conflicts across the continent, especially those that persist.

We will work with President Denis Sasso N'Guesso, in his capacity as Chairman of the AU High Level Committee on Libya, to organize an intra-Libyan conference to foster a ceasefire and promote dialogue.

We will continue to work with the parties in South Sudan to implement the pending elements of the Revitalized Agreement, to pave the way for the formation of a government of national unity.

South Africa will also host an Extraordinary Summit to Silencing the Guns in May 2020 to review the implementation of the AU Roadmap while responding to emerging emergencies in the peace landscape. and security in Africa. 

This Summit should design real actions that we Africans can take to end the conflicts, as well as the acts of terrorism that are rampant in many countries and regions, especially in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and are now spreading also in southern Africa. 

We also have to deal with the actions of other countries outside our continent who are waging proxy wars there by fueling ongoing conflicts. 

The principle of finding African solutions to Africa's problems must be the major theme for overcoming all conflicts on our continent when we work within the framework of the AU and the UN. 

During our presidency, we will champion positioning Africa as a strong, resilient and influential global player, for which cooperation between the AU and the UN will be essential. We must ensure that Africa continues to play an increasingly important role on the world stage.

It is also imperative now that Africa continues to assert the primacy of multilateralism in global affairs. We must pursue this task by fostering relations between the AU and the United Nations (UN).

We must focus on reforming the UN Security Council, advancing the achievement of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring compliance with the 2016 UN commitments on of HIV/AIDS.

The fate of all of us depends on international cooperation and leaving no one behind.

This is why the African Union must continue to support the struggle of the peoples wherever they suffer the yoke of oppression. 

We reaffirm today our constant support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle for a sovereign and independent State, as well as with the people of Western Sahara for their right to self-determination. 

We must do everything so that our independence and the freedom of the peoples of our continent are universal.

As the famous musician Jonas Gwangwa sang: "Freedom for a few is freedom for no one".

Our international cooperation must also focus on the continent's efforts to overcome the global climate crisis. 

As Chair of the African Heads of State and Government Committee on Climate Change, South Africa will prioritize the three global goals of the Paris Agreement: mitigation, adaptation and sustainment.

Excellencies,

Our Union bears witness to the power of political union. 

Let us resume our march towards economic integration, development, progress, growth and shared prosperity.

Our continent is truly on the move. 

It is really about moral and eternal regeneration, as the South African revolutionary Pixley isaka Seme said.

Let's build the Africa we want.

Let's silence the guns.

Let us forge plows with our swords, make sickles with our spears.

It is the actions we take from today that will determine the future of our continent.

If we pursue our objectives with diligence and determination, if we mobilize our populations to support them, I am certain that our Union can have a real and effective impact.
 
As that great son of Africa, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, said:
"Today is tomorrow's treasure. Tomorrow is the harvest we plant today."

African leaders, our brothers and sisters, we salute you. 

Thanks to your leadership we have sown the seeds of true African unity. 

Through all the actions we are taking to consolidate the unity of our continent, to foster economic integration, to empower African women and silence the guns, let us look forward to our harvests.

Our peoples await the harvest of our labors.

Our past was glorious, our future will be too.

Thank you.