ÿþ<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"><HTML xmlns:asp><HEAD> <TITLE> 20th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU Opens</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <META content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0" name=GENERATOR> <META content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1" name=CODE_LANGUAGE> <META content=JavaScript name=vs_defaultClientScript> <META content=http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5 name=vs_targetSchema><LINK href="../../../../Style/ENA.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet ><LINK href="../../../../../vg.css" type=text/css rel=STYLESHEET ></HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff MS_POSITIONING="GridLayout"> <P> &nbsp;</P> <TABLE id=Table1 style="Z-INDEX: 102; LEFT: 8px; WIDTH: 984px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 8px; HEIGHT: 24px" cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=984 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="WIDTH: 976px" vAlign=middle align=center> <P style="text-align: left"> <img src="../../../../Images/Logo.gif" /> &nbsp;&nbsp; <IMG src="../../../../Images/ENALogo.gif" ></P></TD> <TD vAlign=middle align=center> <P>&nbsp;</P></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="WIDTH: 976px" vAlign="middle" align="center" bgColor="#cc3399" colSpan="1" rowSpan="1"></TD> <TD vAlign="middle" align="center"></TD> </TR></TBODY></TABLE> <br /> <br /> <table> <tr> <td style="width: 622px" valign="top"> <TABLE id=Table2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px solid; BORDER-TOP: 0px solid; Z-INDEX: 103; LEFT: 11px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px solid; TOP: 97px;" cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="LINE-HEIGHT: 200%; BORDER-BOTTOM: darkgray 1px solid; width: 588px; height: 1px;" vAlign=bottom align=center bgColor=white> <SPAN id=lblHeading style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: larger; WIDTH: 580px; COLOR: royalblue; FONT-FAMILY: Visual Geez Unicode; HEIGHT: 24px; line-height: normal;" > 20th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU Opens</SPAN></TD></TR> <TR style="PADDING-RIGHT: 12px; PADDING-LEFT: 12px; LEFT: 20px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 12px; MARGIN-LEFT: 6px; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; PADDING-TOP: 12px"> <TD style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-FAMILY: Visual Geez Unicode; HEIGHT: 17px; width: 588px; background-color: ghostwhite;" vAlign=top align=left bgColor=#f8f8ff> <span style="font-size: 10pt">Addis Ababa, January 26, 2012 (Addis Ababa) - The 20th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council, which is made of Foreign Ministers of the African Union (AU), opened here on Thursday at the headquarters of the Union.<p><p>In his keynote address to the session, African Union Commission Chairperson, Jean Ping said the African Union Commission has worked closely with the Peace and Security Council which has always been proactive in order to face at appropriate time the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts and crisis in Africa. <p><p>He stressed the need for the establishment of the African Peace and Security Architecture, the realization of panel of the wise and the continental early warning system.<p><p>Ping thanked Djibouti, Kenya Burundi and Uganda and UMISOM for their commitment peace and reconciliation in Somalia.<p><p> He also expressed appreciation to Ethiopia for its role it played as a Chair of IGAD and support it has given to the forces of Transitional Federal Government.<p><p>Speaking on the occasion, United Nations Under Secretary General Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Abdoulie Janneh said on the occasion the economic growth in Africa fell to 2.7 per cent in 2011 from nearly 5 per cent in 2010.<p><p>He attributed the decline in the continents economic growth to the sharp economic downturn in North Africa as a result of the political events which took place in the sub-region. <p><p>The session is expected to look at the work of the AU Commission in the last six months, discuss reports to be submitted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples rights, among others.<p><p>The meeting is primarily designed to set ground for the 18th Summit, which will be attended at heads of states and governments level on January 29-30, 2012.<p><p>An evaluation of Special Emergency Fund for Drought and Famine in Africa, development reports, cooperation among African countries, are among the top most agendas of the meeting. <p><p>One of the highlights of the 18th AU summit, which will be held under a theme:  Boosting Intra-Africa Trade , the inauguration of the new African Union Conference Center financed and built by China.<p><p>The election of the next Chairperson of the African Union Commission, whose head, Jean Ping is expected to run for the second term, is expected to be the focus of the summit.<p><p>South African Home Minister and former Foreign Minister, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma was presented as candidature of the position for the AU Commission Chaperon. <p><p><p><p><p>---END---<p></span></TD></TR> </TBODY></TABLE> </td> <td style="width: 657px; font-size: 12pt;" valign="top"> <table> <tr> <td style="width: 366px"> <IMG id=imgPhoto style="FLOAT: left" src="Images/159060.jpg"></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 366px; background-color: cornflowerblue; text-align: center; height: 4px;"> <strong><span style="color: #ffffff; font-family: Trebuchet MS">Headlines</span></strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: smaller; width: 366px; font-family: 'Visual Geez Unicode'"> <img src="../../../../Images/grn_arrow.gif"" /><a href="159060.htm"> 20th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU Opens</a><br /> <img src="../../../../Images/grn_arrow.gif"" /><a href="159065.htm">Computerized vehicle overhaul helps enhance transport safety: Authority </a><br /> <img src="../../../../Images/grn_arrow.gif"" /><a href="159081.htm">Ethiopia developing energy, infrastructure sectors tremendously: AU Official </a><br /> <img src="../../../../Images/grn_arrow.gif"" /><a href="159075.htm">9 health projects under construction(corrected version)</a><br /> <img src="../../../../Images/grn_arrow.gif"" /><a href="159074.htm">Town secures over 71 mln Birr revenue </a><br /> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background-color: whitesmoke; text-align: center;" colspan="2"> <span style="font-size: 9pt; color: #006699; font-family: Trebuchet MS"><strong>(c) The Ethiopian News Agency</strong></span></td> </tr> </table> </BODY></HTML>