Decision on the Budget of the African Union for the 2014 Financial Year

DECISION ON THE BUDGET OF THE AFRICAN UNION

FOR THE 2014 FINANCIAL YEAR

Doc. EX.CL/787(XXIII)

The Executive Council,

1. TAKES NOTE of the Report of the PRC, and ENDORSES its recommendations on the Draft Budget for the 2014 Financial Year;

2. APPROVES a total regular budget of US$308,048,376 for the African Union for year 2014, broken down into US$137,884,958 Operating Costs and US$170,163,418 Programs and recommends it to the Assembly for adoption, and to be financed as follows:

i) A total amount of US$126,050,898 assessed to Member States and US$170,098,545 is secured from International Partners;

ii) A total amount ofUS$8,916,329 to be charged to the General Fund with respect to:

• The impact of the 5% salary increase; and SAP User License Fees and

VSAT services: US$4,166,329;

• NEPAD Programming and Coordinating Agency: US$2,500,000;

• African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights: US$1,000,000;

• African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: US$750,000;

• Pan-African Parliament: US$500,000.

iii) The cost of maintenance of premises and budget for security services amounting to US$2,105,986 shall be covered from Acquisition of Properties Fund;

iv) Renovation of building C and other costs related to improvement of premises estimated at US$876,619 to be covered from the assistance of the Peoples’ Republic of China;

3. APPROVES the Budget breakdown among the AU Organs as follows:

4. ALSO APPROVES a budget for Special Projects of US$24,241,656; Pass- Through Funds of US$90,536,525; and Technical Assistance of US$37,763,663, funds to be mobilized from Partners;

5. AUTHORIZES the Commission to mobilize funds from Partners to close the funding gap of US$78,185,573 (US$29,878,153 for regular Programs and US$48,307,420 for the special projects) on the Program budget till the end of 2013 and report back the status to the PRC before the summit in January 2014;

6. ALSO AUTHORIZES the Commission to use the Acquisition of Properties Fund to build a Storage facility on the available land in the compound for a maximum cost of US$200,000;

7. APPROVES a budget of US$2.2 million from Acquisition of Properties Fund for AUC Security System Modernization project;

8. AUTHORIZES the Commission to proceed with the construction of the residence of the Deputy Chairperson, and to defer that of the Commissioners;

9. ENCOURAGES the Commission to explore the possibilities of establishing a Program Implementation Fund to be capitalized through voluntary contributions by Member States, the private sector, independent foundations, development partners and other appropriate sources including certain percentage from the General fund;

10. ALSO ENCOURAGES the Commission in collaboration with the PRC to engage in improved budgeting processes, through programme audit and needs assessment for all the structures of the African Union for adequate allocation of funds, as well as identifying ways and means of removing over dependence on partner programme funding, while mobilizing domestic resources;

11. CONSIDERS the possibility of ensuring in the future an appropriate funding so as to provide the different AU Organs and Structures with timely recruitment of the approved positions in order to adequately address their capacity constraints and enable them to effectively fulfil their respective mandates;

12. RECOMMENDS that as from the financial year 2015 any such request from all AU Organs and Structure should be considered under the budgeting process to be covered under the assessed contributions of Member States;

13. REQUESTS the Commission to carry out a comprehensive Staff audit and needs assessment for all AU Organs and report at the next Session of the Executive Council in January 2014;

14. ALSO REQUESTS the Commission to ensure that the creation of new AU Organs take into account the financial impact on the African Union;

15. FURTHER REQUESTS the Commission and the PRC to jointly review the status of the General Fund and to report on the outcomes to the next session of the Executive Council in January 2014;

16. AUTHORIZES the Commission to allocate to the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture the available resources mobilized from Partners to the tune of US$ 1.95 million, to enable it carry out its programmes as earlier approved;

17. REQUESTS the Commission to prepare and submit a study to the PRC to establish Maintenance of Properties Fund with the proposals for modality of funding;

18. WELCOMES the proposal of the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to host a Ministerial Retreat at an appropriate time so as to reflect on how the Executive Council can meaningfully contribute to the improvement of methods of work and the functioning of the Union.