The global financial landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. Recognizing the benefits and specific gains in economic growth and development that can be derived from successful integration, Africa has taken a series of regional and continental integration initiatives. In this regard, the "Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community" (Abuja Treaty) was adopted in 1991 by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which later became the African Union (AU) in 2001. The treaty entered into force in 1994 and stipulates that the Economic Community (EC) will be established in six (6) stages over a period of 34 to 40 years maximum. The sixth step will consist in completing the establishment of the African Economic and Monetary Union with the setting up of an African Central Bank to mint the single African currency. In July 2000, following the adoption of the Sirte Declaration in September 1999, the 36th OAU Summit held in Lomé, Togo, adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) through which the Heads of State and Government proposed the establishment of two additional financial institutions, namely the African Monetary Fund (AMF) and the African Investment Bank (AIB), especially since theAfrican Central Bank have already been provided for in Article 6 of the Abuja Treaty. Article 19 of the Constitutive Act of the new union recognizes that these three institutions, namely the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund and the African Investment Bank constitute the financial institutions of the African Union. Their rules and regulations are defined in related protocols. In addition, the AU Commission was mandated by the AU Assembly (Assembly/AU/Dec.109) in January 2006, in Khartoum, Sudan, to carry out a feasibility study on the establishment of a Pan-African Stock Exchange (PASE). In this respect, the three financial institutions already mentioned and the PASE are referred to in the African Union Commission as the Pan-African Financial Institutions (PAFI). The Department of Economic Affairs has full responsibility for coordinating the activities leading up to the actual establishment of these institutions.
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