Addis Ababa, 31 January 2015 (ECA) - The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Carlos Lopes has hailed this year's 24th African Union Summit for stepping up on key issues, including the implementation of the Yamoussoukro decision to open up aviation across Africa, debt cancellation for Ebola-affected countries and the adoption of Agenda 2063 by the Heads of States and governments.

On the need to tackle the impact of the Ebola Virus Disease, Mr. Lopes expressed great satisfaction with the decision by the Summit calling for debt cancellation for the three Ebola-affected countries.

"We are all calling for the last push to eradicate the Ebola Virus Disease; we are conscious of the fact that debt cancellation should continue to be one of the key elements of the recovery discussion, with countries in the driving seat," stressed Mr. Lopes, who also participated at a stakeholder meeting this week, led by the Chairperson of the African Union, Madame Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma with representatives from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to take stock of the situation and plan the recovery in a coordinated manner.

Mr. Lopes has been at the forefront of this call, following his visit to the affected region in 2014, which resulted in a study by the Economic Commission for Africa on the impact of Ebola Disease Virus and the case for debt cancellation for the three affected countries.

"On the issue of infrastructure, positive developments that could change the way we interact on the continent were discussed. We have the trans-Saharan highway optic fiber and gas from Lagos to Algiers and soon, we should be able to commute by rail or road from Dakar to Djibouti via Ndjamena," he said; and added that similar projects will see Brazzaville and Kinshasa connected by rail and road.

"We should all look forward to navigating from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea along the Nile," said an optimistic, Lopes, who earlier this week had indicated that infrastructure projects across the continent have a financing gap of USD 30 billion which could be met through private sector investment.

While at the Summit, the Executive Secretary held numerous bilateral meetings with Heads of States and Governments to discuss mutual areas of development and cooperation.

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