African Union commissioner, Minister Shaker to sign host state agreement Sunday

CAIRO – 6 April 2019: Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union Amani Abou Zeid is set to sign the host state agreement Sunday with the Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker in Cairo.

Dr. Abou Zeid, who was assigned to the position in 2017, arrived in Cairo coming from Ethiopia on Saturday. She is expected to hold a press conference with the minister following the signing of the agreement at a Cairo hotel.

After her short visit, Abou Zeid will head to Germany, where she will give a speech at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2019 that will kick off Tuesday, and then she will participate in the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World BankGroup and the International Monetary Fund Washington, D.C. taking place on April 12-14.

On Thursday, Abou Zeid held a ministerial meeting with ministers of tourism and civil aviation in Cape Verde, which tackled progress achieved in the Open Skies for Africa initiative that aims to increase flight connectivity across the African continent, boost intra-Africa trade whereby more Africans will be able to travel and transport merchandise by air between many cities.


African Union Commissioner Amani Abou Zeid during ministerial meeting in Cape Verde - Press photo


During the meeting, the commissioner shared the updates of the number of African member states who signed the initiative, which rose from 29 to 40 countries. The meeting comes after the selection of President Faure Gnassingbé of Togo to lead the Open Skies initiative with African Union Commissioner Abou Zeid.


African Union Commissioner Amani Abou Zeid during ministerial meeting in Cape Verde - Press photo

Abou Zeid explained in an interview with Egypt Today in December 2018 the benefits of what is known as the single market will facilitate logistics and services in the African continental free trade area (CFTA).

“The tourism sector, which greatly depends on cost-effective air services will experience a significant boost in tourism traffic across the continent due to direct air access to many African destination, ease of travel and lower air fares,” she said.


To read the whole interview:

A Renew-energetic Beginning

CAIRO - 7 December 2018: Energy is a major enabler and accelerator of growth in any nation, yet despite its enormous, albeit non utilized natural sources, more than 600 million Africans are lacking of access to electricity and energy efficiency. This is the top concerns holding back development on the Continent.