President Paul Biya and wife, Chantal Biya, arrived at the Malabo International Airport yesterday at exactly 10:35 am to a hilarious welcome from the Cameroonian community. On hand to receive the Presidential couple at the foot of the plane was Equato-Guinean Prime Minister, Vicente Eyate Tomy who was accompanied by a host of dignitaries from Cameroon including; Lazare Mpouel Bala and wife, Cameroon's Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea; Martin Belinga Eboutou, the Director of Civil Cabinet.
Others were Essimi Menye, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Paul Atanga Nji, Minister in Charge of Missions at the Presidency; Narcisse Mouele Kombi, Special Adviser at the Presidency and Hon. Roger Nkodo Dang, First Vice President of the African Parliament.
Following the brief ceremony at the airport, the Presidential couple immediately left for the Sipopo Conference Hall where the Heads of State joined the rest of the African leaders for the opening ceremony. It was a ceremony full of solemnity and characterised essentially by a medley of presentations. Agriculture and Food security featured very much in the various presentations.
The occasion was rife once more for the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to reiterate the importance of agriculture in Africa's development drive. In re-echoing the continent's ambitious 50 years Agenda 2063, the AU official recalled the challenges ahead of making the dream come true.
The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon was particularly assuring of the organisation's commitment to support the AU in its endeavours. He expressed his appreciation of what the AU has so far done in forging solutions to wherever there are crises. "The United Nations is proud to be a key partner in Africa's transformation", he said. In all, eight speakers took to the rostrum after the welcome speech of the host President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
These included: Salvador Valdes Mesa, Vice President of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, newly elected President of Egypt, Arthur Peter Mutharika, newly elected President of Malawi, Mariano Rajoy Brey, President of the Government of Spain and guest of honour, and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Chairman of the African Union with the opening speech.
Deliberations continued in the later part of the afternoon with a public session. All the discussions centred on the theme of the summit: Year of Agriculture and Food Security. The summit ends today with the adoption of decisions and recommendations of the 25th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council as well as Declaration of the 23rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly.
