ADDIS ABABA (HAN) September 21.2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News. African Finance ministers have agreed on a roadmap for implementing a 0.2 per cent import levy to fund the African Union (AU), the continental bloc said in a statement Monday.
The two-day ministers conference at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia concluded last week, with a general consensus on the need to speedily implement financing of the regional body by 2017.
The consensus reflects several outcomes of the decision of the 27th AU summit in Kigali this year – to impose a 0.2 per cent levy on eligible imports for all members’ states to finance the AU.
The ministers adopted the guidelines on the modalities of implementing the levy to provide reliable and predictable funding for the operational budget of the AU, the Programme and Peace Support Operations budgets, it said.
“It cannot be a better time to implement the 0.2 levy now that the AU is spearheading Agenda 2063 and its 10-year flagship projects. The import levy will help generate funds for reliable, sustainable and predictable financing of the Union’s activities,” said Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the outgoing chairperson of the AU Commission.
The ministers have also agreed on the need to reduce dependency on partner funds for implementation of continental development and integration programmes.
Leave a Reply