Addis Ababa — The heads of state summit of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa has approved the creation of the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), which formally integrates NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) into the AU's structures.

The new agency is mandated to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of continental and regional programmes and projects and to mobilise the resources required for their implementation.

The NPCA will also coordinate research, and monitor and evaluate the implementation of programmes in line with the vision and core values of the African Union and of NEPAD.

Speaking on Tuesday to the Mozambican journalists covering the summit, the Mozambican ambassador to the AU, Manuel Lubisse, said that the delay in formally incorporating NEPAD into the AU was because the AU itself has been undergoing transformation.

NEPAD came into existence before the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was transformed into the AU. "More time was needed for the AU Commission to structure itself better, so that it could absorb NEPAD, which had been functioning outside of the AU, but always in the perspective of creating better forms of articulation", said Lubisse.

Integration had gone ahead by phases, he said - the first was the harmonization of programmes and procedures, now followed by the physical integration of elements of NEPAD, creating the new planning and coordination body.

Lubisse regarded as the most important events in the summit the fact that the chair of the AU has passed into southern African hands (in the shape of Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika), and the hardening of the AU's stance against unconstitutional changes of government (such as the coup in Madagascar last March).

The summit debated and adopted the AU budget for 2010, which is rather more than 101 million US dollars. The money will be provided from contributions by the member countries, and additional sums from the AU's external partners.

As for the scepticism towards the AU shown by the outgoing chair, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddaffi, who was angered by the refusal of the rest of Africa to adopt his proposal for the immediate creation of a "United States of Africa", Lubisse stressed that "running is no guarantee that we will reach the destination".

"We have defended the need for gradual movement, resting on the conviction that all the steps we take should be certain and secure steps", he said. Mozambique believed that African states should move gradually towards the goal of greater continental unity

"This movement should rest on values that we share in common as a continent, bearing in mind that we can't all advance at the same speed", he said. "Our position is not defined according to the positions of others, but is based on what we think is the right path to follow".