Obama to visit African Union HQ in Addis Ababa

ADDIS ABABA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will visit the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, where he will meet with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, and other AU officials.

Obama will also deliver a speech to the African continent from the Nelson Mandela Hall at the AU Conference Center in Addis Ababa, according to Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission.

Speaking to the press on Friday here in Addis, Mwencha said that the U.S. President and the Chairperson of AU Commission would discuss ways of strengthening trade relation between Africa and the U.S..

The meeting between the two leaders will also be an opportunity to discuss issues related to investment as well as cooperation on areas of AU's programs in infrastructure, information and communication technology (ICT), and agriculture, according to the Deputy Chairperson.

"But, beyond trade, we are looking at investment. And investment I should say the United States is one of the major investors on the continent. And we have a number of programs in the continent that we are looking at, mainly in the area of infrastructure but we are also looking at sectors like ICT and also agriculture," he said.

"There are also global issues that we are talking about concerning climate change and such like areas. The two leaders will have an opportunity first of all to look at how we strengthen this cooperation including peace and security which of course paramount of importance particularly looking at issues of terrorism and counter terrorism," he noted.

Taken from Global Post.

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