10TH CONSULTATION MEETING OF ASSECAA HELD IN THE KINGDOM OF ESWATINI

The Senate Speaker, Right Honourable Emmanuel Sinzohagera, returned on Sunday, May 14, 2023, from a working mission to the Kingdom of Eswatini where he had participated in the 10^th consultation meeting of ASSECAA (Association of Senates, Shooras and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World) which took place from May 11 to 13, 2023.

At his arrival at Melchior Ndadaye International Airport, Right Honourable Sinzohagera told the press that the meeting focused on two themes.

For the first theme related to ”The impacts of several international crises on the economies of Africa and the Arab world”, he said that the participants in those meetings noted that the world in general is faced with excessive economic crises which affect the Arab and African regions in particular.

As a result, those crises cause shocks with a significant impact on the economies of the regions, which often depend on commodity exports and foreign capital flows to finance their development. In addition, they lower the economic growth of our respective countries.

Faced with all those challenges, participants converged on the fact that those regions must not give up to current circumstances but rather all must unite to find appropriate solutions to those crises.

They also stressed the need for governments to take more effective measures and decisions to address the serious effects and repercussions of those crises on the countries’ economies. Here we particularly notice the areas to be prioritized: agriculture, energy and food security issues in the legislative programmes, in objective of meeting the needs and aspirations of the African and Arab peoples.

They also stressed the need for governments to take more effective measures and decisions to deal with the serious effects and repercussions of these crises on the countries’ economies. Here, we will particularly note the areas to be prioritized: agriculture, energy and food security issues in the legislative programs, with a view to meet the needs and aspirations of the African and Arab peoples.

With regard to the second theme on ”The importance of the green economy to support development in Africa and the Arab world”, those who took part in this retreat considered the green economy as one solution to deal with economic crises. They stressed that the green economy is the future for every country as its presence promotes prosperity, allows the creation of decent jobs, addresses the root causes of conflict and contributes to the enjoyment of human rights, be they civil, political, economic and socio-cultural rights.

At the end of this retreat, participants formulated a series of proposals and recommendations below: African and Arab governments should learn from the current economic crises and establish strategic partnerships to face the challenges which their countries are undergoing; and emphasize the importance of the green economy as one of the ways to overcome crises by redirecting capital to invest in the green energy sector, to name only a few.

On the sidelines of the 10^th meeting, the Senate Speaker took the opportunity to meet his counterparts and some representatives of the Chambers and Councils to discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations. He met namely the speaker of the Senate of the Kingdom of Eswatini, the Speaker of the House of Councilors of Morocco, the Speaker of the Senate of the DRC, the Member of the National Federal Council of the United Arab Emirates as well as the Vice-President of the Shoura Council of Bahrain.

As a reminder, the 9^th ASSECAA meeting took place in Bujumbura on September 19 and 20, 2022.