Nairobi: Kenya is willing to host an African institute to facilitate Diaspora investment in the continent, President Kibaki has said. Speaking during an ongoing Kenya-Diaspora conference in London, the head of state said the country has offered to host the institute that is being considered by the African Union Commission. "We are hopeful that our bid will receive wide support," Kibaki said.

The institute will serve as a tool to assist the continent in building its capacity to improve the regulatory framework and address the high costs on remittances. “Your support of Kenya’s economy through your investments amounting to over one billion dollars annually is appreciated. I now urge you to embark on technological and skills transfer that will facilitate industrialisation and employment creation in Kenya,” said the President.

• Related:  DECISION ON THE OUTCOME OF THE GLOBAL AFRICAN DIASPORA SUMMIT

The Assembly,

1. TAKES NOTE of the Outcome and Declaration of the Global African Diaspora Summit;

2. COMMENDS the Commission and the Government of South Africa for the sterling work and active cooperation that led to the success of the Summit;

3. RECOGNIZES the importance of the contribution of Member States, leaders and people of the African Diaspora community worldwide and friends and partners of the AU in attaining the objectives of the AU Global African Diaspora’s Summit and its outcomes which are reflected in the Declaration, its Programme, Plan of Action and Implementation Mechanism;

4. DECIDES that Roadmap should continue to be recognized as a vehicle for the implementation process of Summit outcomes;

5. EMPHASIZE the requirement of adequate resourcing of the Diaspora Program to support processes of effective implementation;

6. ENDORSES the five flagship or Legacy Projects and REQUESTS the Commission to urgently organize appropriate Seminars and workshop of Member States of the Union in the fourth quarter of 2012 to consolidate their feasibility studies and present the outcome to the next Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly in January 2013 for consideration;

7. DECIDES on the need to establish and set criteria for increasing presence and participation of the Diaspora in AU programs and policies in a systematic and global manner through the African Union Commission rather than in a piecemeal and uncoordinated fashion through various structures and Organs of the AU;

8. REQUESTS the Commission to engage regional Diaspora groupings with a view to helping them to organise themselves into regional networks that will facilitate their representation as “observers” at AU Summit and eventually, in the future, as the Sixth Region of the continent that would contribute substantially to implementation of policies and programmes;

9. REQUESTS the Commission, the PRC and Council to strengthen the responsible Department, CIDO, in human resource and material terms to support the implementation of the Diaspora Plan of Action;

10. REQUESTS also that the Commission and the Republic of South Africa should continue their process of active cooperation to achieve this objective along with other regional champions that are willing and able to contribute towards the implementation of the outcomes of the Summit;

11. FURTHER REQUESTS that emphasis continue to be placed on putting in place effective organizational processes including the setting up and consolidation of regional networks.

• Related: DECISION ON ESTABLISHMENT OF AN AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR REMITTANCES (AIR)

The Assembly,

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the Fifth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development relating to the establishment of an African Institute for Remittances (AIR);

2. RECALLS the Declaration of the Global Diaspora Summit of May 2012 in South Africa that adopted the establishment of the African Institute for Remittances as one of the five legacy projects of the African Union;

3. ENDORSES the establishment of the African Institute for Remittances and requests the AUC to work on the modalities for its structures and location and submit to relevant organs to facilitate its early operationalization;

4. CALLS UPON the African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and other partners to support the implementation of this initiative.

• Source for the above: ASSEMBLY OF THE UNION, Nineteenth Ordinary Session, 15 - 16 July 2012, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: DECISIONS, DECLARATIONS, RESOLUTION AND SPECIAL VOTES OF THANKS.