SPEECH BY H.E. THE PRESIDENT DURING DISCUSSIONS ON THE THEME OF THE 17TH ORDINARY SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE AFRICAN UNION HEADS OF STATE & GOVERNMENT, MALABO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA: 29TH JUNE- 1 JULY, 2011

Your Excellency,
The President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and Chair of the African Union,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the onset, I would like to express my profound gratitude to your Excellency, President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the government and the people of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, for the warm welcome and the generous hospitality extended to my delegation and I since our arrival in this beautiful city of Malabo.
May I also thank you for the excellent arrangements made for hosting this Summit and for the opportunity to address this august Assembly.

Excellencies,
I wish to share a few thoughts on the theme of this Summit, 'Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development'. As indicated by a number of previous speakers, Africa comprises of an increasingly well educated young population that is facing several challenges. These include high unemployment, poverty, and insecurity.

Significantly, Africa holds a range of opportunities for youth empowerment that need to be unleashed. This Summit needs to reaffirm our commitment to our shared values as enshrined in the African Youth Charter and agree on ways to enhance cooperation among our governments and other actors to fast track youth empowerment for sustainable development.

Excellencies,
This Summit also provides an opportunity to review our achievements for the purpose of sharing experiences from our different countries. In this regard, I therefore wish to share with this Assembly what Kenya is doing to empower our youth. Our new constitution guarantees participation by the youth in socio-economic and political arenas. The constitution is further reinforced by my Government's commitment to our development blueprint, VISION TWENTY THIRTY, which has identified flagship projects to integrate the youth into our development activities.Our National Youth Policy provides a clear framework for harnessing youth potential through specific programmes. Current targets include creation of 500,000 jobs annually countrywide through national youth service initiatives that offer employment in public community development projects such as a re-forestation and road construction. We also extend credit through the Enterprise Development Fund for entrepreneurship and skill training activities.

Excellencies,
In Kenya, it is apparent that the combination of national youth policies, focusing attention on rural development, technical training, accessibility of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and the prospects of the green economy provide opportunities to overcome the youth disempowerment. I wish to reiterate my conviction that Africa stands to gain by adopting strategies that transform the large populations of our youth into catalysts for economic growth.

Excellencies
The empowerment of the African youth is directly linked to some discussions that have taken place during this Summit. Significantly, Africa's transition to the green economy and the urgency to establish appropriate international environmental governance structures are core to facilitating opportunities for youth empowerment. It is in this regard that my country has co-sponsored the proposal by the Republic of Congo on Rio +20 which has received overwhelming support during earlier discussions on the margins of this Summit. The location of a strengthened UNEP in Nairobi, with a view to transforming it into a specialized environmental agency of the UN will enable it to have a clear mandate and establish a financing mechanism to ensure sufficient and predictable funding. A strong UNEP or specialized agency in Nairobi will also be of great pride and importance not only to Africa but the developing world as a whole.

I also wish to take this opportunity to seek your support in ensuring that the Inter-Governmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is located in Nairobi as part of the efforts to establish a more organized and coherent structure on environmental governance. As a member of the Committee of 10 on Climate Change, Kenya believes that the COP 17 meeting in Durban must seek to achieve support for adaptation and the development of clean energy in Africa. On peace and security, we note progress made towards the resolution of various conflicts in Africa. In the Horn of Africa, the recent agreements in the Sudan offer opportunity for the youth to focus their attention to growth and development. Similarly, the Kampala Accord provides a new window to engage the people of Somalia in dialogue towards stability and the completion of the transitional tasks. All these agreements require the solid support of this Assembly and the larger international community to avoid relapse of violence and the trapping of youngsters in war.

Excellencies,
The development efforts in Africa can only be realised within a rule-based international system. It is therefore imperative that this Assembly takes all possible measures to ensure that other international actors, in particular the UN Security Council, are responsive to the African perspectives on conflict resolution, peacemaking, and sustainable development.

Finally, your Excellencies, it is my hope that the outcomes of this summit will provide a brighter future for our continent through enhanced youth empowerment. Thank you all