The 10th African Union (AU) Gender Pre-Summit (GPS) in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa is discussing ways to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women, as well as fighting corruption on the continent.

The meeting, which officially kicked off on Wednesday, is being held under the theme “Winning the Fight against Corruption: A Sustainable Path to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa”.

Mashair Ahmed Elamin Abdalla, Minister of Security and Social Development of the Republic of Sudan and Rapporteur of the Specialised Technical Committee (STC) Bureau on Gender and Women Empowerment, is chairing the meeting.

Representing the Chairperson of the AU Commission Moussa Faki Mohamed at the opening ceremony, the Commissioner for Political Affairs of the AUC, Ambassador Minata Samate Cessouma, underlined that GPS meetings had played an important role in influencing and shaping AU policies on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Cessouma added that the 10th Pre-Summit was an opportunity to reflect on the progress made over the last decade and to plan the way ahead, particularly in the context of the new AU Reform and Agenda 2063.

With regards to the successful implementation of Agenda 2063, the Commissioner emphasised that corruption is a greater obstacle and such forums are crucial to help the AU develop innovative intervention strategies to fight corruption.

The Director of the AU Women, Gender and Development (WGDD), Mahawa Kaba Wheeler, recalled that “Agenda 2063, the roadmap of our continent, reminds us to renew our commitments and ambitions for the promotion of the status of women and gender equality in Africa and especially to realise the prosperity of Africa is clearly conditioned on the opportunities that will be created for women and young people on our continent”.

The meeting unanimously pointed out that corruption disproportionately affects the poor, especially women, and perpetuates poverty by affecting public programmes meant to benefit the poor.