The African Union and African Regional Organizations

African Union 

The African Union (AU) was created in 2002, replacing the former Organization of African Unity, which was founded on  May 25, 1963. Imbued with the values of independence, unity, peace and cooperation, the AU seeks to promote African solutions to the challenges faced by African countries, with a view to strengthen peace, sovereignty and social and economic development on the continent. The organization’s concrete objectives and goals are listed in the so-called ‘2063 Agenda’, launched on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Organization of the African Unity, in 2013, with the aim to guide the works of AU in the next 50 years.

In 2018, the African Union Agency for Development (AUDA-NEPAD) was created, with a mandate to coordinate and carry out projects that promote regional integration and accelerate the achievement of the 2063 Agenda objectives, strengthening the capacities of member states and regional organizations.

In April 2019, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into force, which will become the world’s largest free-trade area once it becomes fully operational. With its secretariat based in Accra, Ghana, the AfCFTA’s goal is to increase intra-African trade and to strengthen Africa’s position in the international market.

The African Union has made a significant contribution to the institutional consolidation of the continent, playing an important role in conflict prevention and mediation and forging a new profile for Africa – characterized above all by the modernization of political institutions and economic structures. The AU’s initiatives are focused on respect for human rights, economic openness and administrative transparency in its members. The promotion of sustainable development and equality between men and women and women’s empowerment are importante themes  among these initiatives.

Bilateral relations

The African Union is an important forum for discussing and promoting initiatives with African countries in a wide range of areas – from politics to economics, from agriculture to social development. The opening of the Brazilian Embassy in Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, home to the AU headquarters, in 2005, also reflected Brazil’s interest in the  activities of the organization. Since then, Brazil has been invited to take part in the main AU events as an observer country. Since  2007, Brazil and the AU maintain a Technical Cooperation Agreement, a legal framework for several bilateral and regional cooperation projects between Brazil and its African partners. The ambassador of Brazil to Ethiopia is also accredited as representative of the Brazilian government to the AU.

By choice of the African Union High Ministerial Committee on the Decade of African Roots and Diaspora, the city of Salvador hosted the Conference of the African Diaspora in the Americas in August 2024. As a preparatory event for the 9th Pan-African Congress, to be held by the African Union, the Conference was attended by representatives of 44 countries from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, as well as representatives from Brazilian and international civil society, who discussed proposals on pan-Africanism, memory, restitution, reparation and reconstruction, embodied in the “Charter of Salvador” and elevated to the presidency of the African Union High-Level Committee for the Implementation of the Agenda of the Decade of African Roots and the African Diaspora. It was the first time that the member states of the African Union held a meeting of the African diaspora, the so-called sixth region, outside the African continent.

African Economic Communities and Regional Organizations

Africa also has economic communities and regional organizations that seek to promote economic integration and cooperation among neighboring countries. The African Union recognizes eight of these regional organizations, with which it has established formal partnership and coordination ties: Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Bilateral relations

Brazil maintains relations, to varying degrees, with these organizations. Noteworthy are SADC, ECOWAS and IGAD, with which Brazil has signed memoranda of understanding for cooperation.

Chronology of bilateral relations

2024 – The African Diaspora Conference in the Americas is held in Salvador. 

2024 – The Memorandum of Understanding on Partnership and Cooperation between Brazil and IGAD is signed

2010 – The ECOWAS-Brazil Summit is held in Cape Verde and the Brazil-ECOWAS Joint Declaration is adopted 

2010 – Signing of the Agreement on Cooperation and Partnership between Brazil and the SADC. 

2006 – The 2nd Conference of Intellectuals of Africa and the Diaspora is held in Salvador, with the participation of the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konaré