• The theme of the Summit will be, “Transcending the Covid-19 Pandemic: Building Resilience through Global Solidarity”.
• President Kenyatta invited his counterparts to the virtual summit on May 7 through a communiqué.
NAIROBI – President Uhuru Kenyatta will convene a virtual summit of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States on June 3 in his capacity as the President-in-Office, State House has said.
“The theme of the Summit will be, ‘Transcending the Covid-19 Pandemic: Building Resilience through Global Solidarity’,” Presidential Strategic Communications Unit said in a statement.
President Kenyatta invited his counterparts to the virtual summit on May 7 through a communiqué.
He called for solidarity among all OACPS to address the unprecedented Covid-19 challenges.
“In my message, I have called upon all Member States to embrace a collective approach in order to defeat this unprecedented health pandemic, which has potential to roll back some of the gains made by the Group, including in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Uhuru said in the statement.
The meeting comes on the background of the 9th ACP Summit that took place in Nairobi in December 2019.
“The pandemic will obviously slow down the momentum required to achieve the OACPS’ plans and strategies, as contained in the organization’s 9th Summit declaration, themed; I ‘Nguvu ya Pamoja”, as well as sustainable development goals whose overarching theme is tackling all forms of poverty everywhere,” Uhuru said.
During the summit, the leaders intend to make specific pronouncements on an intended collective and collaborative approaches to ensure the effects of the pandemic have minimal disruptions to the countries’ economic and social activities, especially in productive sectors.
WHAT IS OACPS?
The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975 and is composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states.
There are 48 countries from sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean, and 15 from the Pacific.
It seeks to attain sustainable development of its members and their gradual integration into the global economy, which entails making poverty reduction a matter of priority and establishing a new, fairer, and more equitable world order.
