The African Union convened the Fifth Mid-Year Coordination Meeting (5th MYCM) of the African Union, on 16th July 2023, in Nairobi Kenya under the 2023 AU theme of the year “Acceleration of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation”. The MYCM was conceptualized in 2017 as the principal forum for the AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to align their work and coordinate the implementation of the continental integration agenda, replacing the June/ July summits.

The 5th Mid-Year Coordination meeting discussed among other issues, the status of regional integration in Africa, adoption of an effective Division of labour between the AU, RECs/RMs and Member States on the remaining sectors and consideration of the report on AU Institutional Reform. The meeting ended with the heads of state signing the declaration which highlighted among other issues:

• Member States should provide E-visa facilitation for Africans to boost all modes of connectivity and tourism in view of their enormous contributions to socio-economic growth;
• The AUC, RECs, AUDA-NEPAD, AfCFTA, Regional Mechanisms and Member States to enhance domestic resource mobilization and stem illicit financial flows to secure quality and quantity financial resources to sustainably ensure implementation of its integration agenda; and
• The development of operationalization of the AfCFTA Adjustment Facility, Payment and settlement system and Guided Trade Initiative.