12th African Union Summit

Insufficient infrastructure is one of the most important obstacles in the development of African countries. Neglected highways, limited railway systems, lack of commercial harbors, inadequacy of communication and intercommunication networks, lack of sewage and water treatment systems, rareness of energy power plants affect millions of Africans’ lives and people can not benefit from fundamental services such as health, education, justice and communication. Insufficient infrastructure has also been deepening the issue of poverty which the continent has long been dealing with. Most part of the continent’s population, that is reaching up to 900 million, is still living in rural regions. Women and children are still drawing water from water wells for their daily rations by walking for miles and miles.

The 12th African Union Summit which is held between the 26 January – 3 February 2009 in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, aims at debating over the infrastructure needs of Africa. In the announcement of the official website of the African Union, the agenda item of the summit has been declared as the “Infrastructure Developments in Africa“. The decisions to be taken in the summit are concerning Turkey as well, which is announced as the “Strategic Partner“ of this year. And a committee from our country took its place in the summit.

The African Union that has 53 African member countries is one of the leading actors that shape the future of the continent. What is expected from the summit is that it should form a consistent frame for solving the infrastructure problems that occur in the continent. Infrastructure investments play a big role in the economic growths and commercial integration movements of the countries of the continent. Inadequate infrastructure costs is also an intensifier element.

The Black Continent is in the need of serious investment opportunities in various fields such as electricity, transportation and communication. Since 2000, China’s investments in the continent, a country which has been in an effort to increase the economic relations with Africa, has reached up to 4.5 billion dollars by 2007, while the investment value of the G-8 countries in the continent is around 3.6 billion dollars between the same years.

Most countries of the African continent are still using the infrastructure services that were left as a heritage from the period of colonization. The continent needs 250 billion dollars for its infrastructure investments in the next 10 years. And it is hoped that foreign aids would be increased. States are in the search of alternative ways. Private tax funds are planned to be created for actions to be taken in this area. Initial goals includes putting International Finance markets and regional development banks into the circuit.

The summit, attended by heads of state or governments, was directly started with a closed session, with no opening ceremony being held. The leaders will be discussing local struggles and the economic development of the “Black Continent“ despite the international financial crisis. And they will also be negotiating the idea of the “Union government“ which was suggested by the leader of Libya, Muammer Kaddafi.