On February 6-10, 2020 the high-level segment of the 33rd African Union (AU) Summit was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the theme “Silencing the guns: creating conducive conditions for Africa's development”. 

A delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine led by Mrs. Myroslava Shcherbatiuk, Director-General for the Middle East and Africa, took part in the 36th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council held on February 6-7, 2020.

The Ukrainian delegation had a number of bilateral meetings, in particular with H.E. Mr. Mohamed El Amine Souef, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Union of Comoros, high-ranking officials from Ghana, Zambia, Rwanda and South Africa. During the meetings, some of which were held for the first time since establishment of the diplomatic relations with respective countries, topical issues of bilateral relations were discussed, namely advancing Ukraine’s foreign policy initiatives within the framework of international organizations, communicating Ukrainian position on the current situation in Donbas and Crimea, etc. Views were exchanged during the meetings regarding cooperation between Ukraine and the countries in Africa within multilateral formats, in particular in the United Nations. 

This was the first time the Ukrainian delegation took part in the AU Summit since Ukraine had obtained observer status in the African Union in June 2016. During the meetings with African partners the readiness of our country to develop with new dynamics cooperation with African States was clearly confirmed.