Africa enters world economy

African Union (AU) member countries at the weekend launched Africa’s answer to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) – the African Energy Commission or Afrec.

Afrec, which has been set up with the intention of co-ordinating policy for the energy-rich continent, was launched following a three-day meeting of AU energy ministers in Algiers.
Opec countries Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria are among the founders of Afrec, which is now the official energy arm of the African Union.

“Afrec is a framework of co-operation and co-ordination, but it is also a framework of action for Africans in the energy sector,” said Chakib Khelil, Algerian energy minister and Opec president.

According to the formal definition, Afrec would be a continental African structure with the responsibility to ensure, co-ordinate and harmonise the protection, preservation, development and the national exploitation, marketing and integration of the energy resources of the African continent.

Afrec aims to fill an institutional lack “by establishing an appropriate framework of co-operation to develop collectively its huge energy resources and defend its interests in such a strategic sector as energy”, the commission states.

The Times (S-Af)