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35th Summit of the African Union (AU) related to PAPSS
A delegation of Afreximbank led by Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Afreximbank and Chairperson of PAPSS Management Board, attended the 35th Summit of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government that took place from 5–6 February 2022 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Summit was chaired by H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal and featured discussions and decisions on several important topics, including among others, Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, peace and security, health and nutrition, and economic recovery and integration.
On the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), the Assembly commended the Government of the Republic of Ghana for successfully hosting the commercial launch of the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) leading to the operational phase of PAPSS, piloting and execution of transactions in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), and directed the AfCFTA Secretariat and Afreximbank in consultation with Member States and Governors of African Central Banks, to deploy the System to cover the entire continent and finalize the regulatory frameworks.
It is worth mentioning that at the PAPSS Commercial launch in Accra, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo – President of the Republic of Ghana represented by H.E. Mahamudu Bawumia – Vice President of the Republic of Ghana invited all the Central banks on the continent to accelerate the onboarding process by connecting their National Switches to PAPSS.
About PAPSS
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System – PAPSS is a centralized Financial Market Infrastructure that enables the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimizing risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions. PAPSS works in collaboration with Africa’s central banks to provide a payment and settlement service to which commercial banks and licensed payment service providers across the region can connect as ‘Participants’. Afreximbank and the African Union (“AU”) first announced PAPSS at the Twelfth Extraordinary Summit of the African Union held on July 7, 2019, in Niamey, Niger Republic, therefore adopting PAPSS as a key instrument for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Further, in its thirteenth (13th) extraordinary session, held on the December 5, 2020, the assembly of African Union recommitted and instructed the Afreximbank and the AfCFTA secretariat to finalize among others, work on the Pan-African Payments and Settlements System (PAPSS). The 35th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU, further directed the AfCFTA and Afreximbank to deploy the system to cover the entire continent. PAPSS was officially launched in Accra, Ghana on January 13, 2022, thus making it available for use by the public.
For more information, visit: www.papss.com.
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Media Contact: Papa Samba Thiongane, communications@papss.com