From 13 to 16 February 2024, the Ambassador at Large for Global and Multilateral Affairs, Andrejs Pildegovičs, was on a working visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to attend the opening of the 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) as an observer, and to meet with officials of the AU Commission and the heads of delegations of African states. During the visit, the Ambassador had bilateral meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Algeria, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, the Comoros (AU Presidency), Lesotho, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Eswatini and with other senior officials.
During the meetings with African partners, Andrejs Pildegovičs highlighted Latvia’s interest in developing a more active political dialogue and cooperation with countries on the African continent in bilateral and multilateral formats. He also informed them about Latvia’s candidacy for the seat of an elected member of the United Nations Security Council in the 2025 elections for the term of 2026-2027. The Ambassador at Large underlined in particular the need to support Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggression.
During the visit, political consultations took place between Latvia and Ethiopia, chaired on the part of Ethiopia by Zenebe Kebede, Head of the Directorate-General for European and American Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two officials discussed the global challenges to the resolution of which Latvia and Ethiopia could contribute through an active dialogue between in international organisations.
In meetings with the Director General of the AU Commission, Fathallah Sijilmassi, and the Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mohammed Belhocine, the officials emphasised the potential for transferring Latvia’s experience, noting in particular the field of digitalisation. Given that the theme of the AU for 2024 is “Educate and Skill Africa for the 21st Century,” Andrejs Pildegovičs spoke about Latvian development cooperation projects that promote entrepreneurial skills among women and the interest of school-age girls in science.
During his visit, Andrejs Pildegovičs met with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to the AU, Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, for a discussion on cooperation between the UN and the AU in peace building, including UN funding for African-led peacekeeping missions. Andrejs Pildegovičs also had meetings with the Ambassador of the European Union to the AU, Javier Niño Pérez, and researchers from think tanks based in Addis Ababa to exchange views about the EU-AU partnership and ongoing security challenges on the African continent.
Background information
The African Union is a continental organization that brings together 54 African countries to promote their cooperation and integration towards promoting peace and economic development on the continent. The member states meet once a year at a session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State or Government to agree on priorities for the coming year and discuss progress. This year’s Assembly session, to be held on February 17 and 18, has been preceded by the Session of the AU Executive Council on February 14 and 15, at which the foreign ministers of the African countries prepared the summit decisions.
Latvia has a positive trade balance with countries on the African continent, and trade volumes have been increasing in recent years. In 2022, trade turnover amounted to EUR 663 million.
