Building on the Secretary-General’s commitment to strengthen cooperation between the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, and Atul Khare, Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support, signed two agreements to deepen their operational support partnership.
Signed at a ceremony at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa on 1 September, these agreements include a Memorandum of Intent Concerning Cooperation in Operational Support and a Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Implementation of the Knowledge and Expertise Exchange Programme (KEEP).
Ms. Nsanzabaganwa and Mr. Khare welcomed the finalization of these two agreements and expressed their appreciation for the extensive collaboration between experts from the two organizations that led to this milestone.
"The motivation for this undertaking continues to be the institutional reforms at the UN and the AU and to support the attainment of our shared goals and vision as embodied in the AU’s Agenda 2063 and UN’s 2030 Agenda," said Ms. Nsanzabaganwa.
Mr. Khare noted, “Our collective hard work has culminated in these framework agreements that support our institutional collaboration and build on our operational experience in contexts such as Somalia.”
The objective of these agreements, which were developed by the Support Partnerships Service in the Department of Operational Support (DOS) in collaboration with the AU Commission, is to deepen operational collaboration in areas such as supply chain management; information and communications technology, and environmental management, as well as to position the United Nations as both a partner and a service provider to the African Union.
Since 2021, over 40 practitioners from both organizations have participated in joint initiatives under the KEEP, including a finance certification course to enhance expertise in resource stewardship, development of a writing manual for the AU, and the secondment of two United Nations experts to support the operationalization of the AU Peace Fund Secretariat.
The Support Partnerships Service is part of the Division for Special Activities in the Department of Operational Support.
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