The event, which would also witness the first meeting of ministers in charge of population, seeks to assemble ministers, experts and other senior government functionaries from African countries, bureaucrats and observers around the world to participate and make recommendations for further implementation of the AADPD.

 The continental meeting would take place from October 2 to 5, 2018.  The experts, however, would convene from October 2 to3, while the ministers in charge of population would begin their meeting from October 4-5.

The meeting would be conducted in the four AU languages which included; Arabic, English, French and Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation. A statement issued in Accra by Mrs Magdalene E. Apenteng, the Acting Chief Director, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the meeting would discuss and agree on the development of a common African position on population issues as well as consider any other relevant information in that regard.

It said all AU member states would carry out an in-depth, multi-sectoral and consultative process to review the extent of implementation of the AADPD based on its Operational Guide and the indicators contained in the monitoring and evaluation framework.

The entire process, the statement said, shall be conducted under the auspices of the APEC thus, the continental experts and ministerial meetings would be informed by the AADPD implementation report.

It said this would identify gaps, challenges, lessons learned and emerging issues to advance advocacy and further implementation of the declaration across the continent.    The Addis Ababa Declaration on Population and Development beyond 2014 (AADPD) adopted by Ministers in October 2013 and endorsed by the AU Summit in January 2014, calls for periodic review of the outcomes of the African regional conferences on International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) beyond 2014.

Given the important strides made towards the development of the AADPD-OG and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, and the need to ensure a coordinated input of Africa into the 25th anniversary and review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action (ICPD PoA), it is important that a comprehensive review of the AADPA is conducted within all AU Member States and at the continental level.

The African Population Experts Committee (APEC), the technical arm of the STC on Health, Population and Drug Control, is well placed to support this important review and advise the AU Ministers in Charge of Population, as a working group of the STC-HPDC, to pronounce themselves on the outcomes of the review process on behalf of Africa.