Call to action: Safe Reopening of Borders to Save Lives, Economies and Livelihoods in Africa

A. Introduction

During the second joint meeting of African ministers responsible for health, ICT and transport on the rollout of the Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies and Livelihoods campaign, a call was made to African countries to work together towards harmonizing travel entry and exit requirements, and to increase mutual recognition and cross-border information exchange for enhanced surveillance. The meeting called for collaboration between different sectors and stakeholders. The African Union, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and all the organizations and institutions represented here and listed, being the members of the Multi-Sectorial Technical Taskforce on Trusted Travel and Re-Opening of Borders that resulted from the joint ministerial meeting hereby resolve as follows:

1. Acknowledging the recently launched Africa Against COVID-19: Saving Lives, Economies and Livelihoods campaign and its further endorsement on 20 August 2020 during the teleconference of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government with chairpersons of the Regional Economic Communities of the African Union, and fully monitoring the progression of the pandemic in the African continent;

2. Recognizing that a multi-sectorial approach through collaboration, coordination and communication is the most robust mechanism to comprehensively address the complexity around the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic imposes on the African population. We are therefore joining our efforts as a multi-disciplinary taskforce to support existing response and control measures established by Member States through the leadership of the African Union, Africa CDC and WHO to achieve a joint continental response success;