African Monetary Union in the context of "Economic Community of West African States"

The Sirte Declaration was the resolution adopted by the Organisation of African Unity on 9 September 1999, at the fourth Extraordinary Session of the OAU Assembly of African Heads of State and Government held at Sirte, Libya. The Declaration announced decisions to:

• establish the African Union
• speed up the implementation of the provisions of the Abuja Treaty, to create an African Economic Community, African Central Bank, African Monetary Union, African Court of Justice and Pan-African Parliament, with the Parliament to be established by 2000
• prepare a Constitutive Act of the African Union that can be ratified by 31 December 2000 and become effective the following year
• give President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa a mandate to negotiate for the cancellation of the African indebtedness
• convene an African Ministerial Conference on security, stability, development and co-operation

The Declaration was followed by summits at Lomé in 2000, when the Constitutive Act of the African Union was adopted, and at Lusaka in 2001, when the plan for the implementation of the African Union was adopted. The first session of the Assembly of the African Union was held in Durban on 9 July 2002.

The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The stated goals of the organization include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank, and a common currency (see African Monetary Union) thus establishing an economic and monetary union.

The African Central Bank (ACB) is one of the original five financial institutions and specialized agencies of the African Union. Over time, it will take over responsibilities of the African Monetary Fund.

When it is fully implemented, the ACB will be the sole issuer of the African single currency (the "Afro" or "Afriq") and/or working along African regional reserve banks, it will become the banker of the African Government and/or regional unions, it will be the banker to Africa's private and public banking institutions along African regional central banks, it will regulate, consult and supervise the African banking industry in sync with regional banking industries and unions, and it will set the official interest and exchange rates which may or may not be in sync with regional central banks; all in conjunction with the African Government's administration.