Transitioning from the role of Djiboutian foreign minister to the African Union (AU) commission chairperson was challenging but meaningful, said Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Jan 9.
Youssouf was elected as AU Commission Chairperson in Feb 2025, emerging victorious in the leadership race against Kenyan former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and Madagascan former Foreign Minister Richard Randriamandrato.
He said he was honored to take the job, which gave him an opportunity to serve more people.
"So many work, many crises. And I mean it's a continental job. It's not something, you know, just restricted to a country. So, it's very tough. If I can serve more people, you know, from this position of our continent and throughout the world, and I think I will be very much, you know, honored to do it. And I think it's a very interesting position, very tough and challenging. I accept to, you know, shoulder it," said Youssouf.
Youssouf was born in Feb 1965. In 1990, he obtained a master's degree in management at the University of Laval before participating in an educational training program in public management, also in Canada.
Youssouf is fluent in five languages, namely French, English, Arabic, Afar and Somali, which means he speaks at least three official working languages of the AU for effective communication across diverse diplomatic settings.
AU Commission chief describes role as challenging yet meaningful
African nations aim to push forward industrialization, agricultural transformation and trade growth in the future development, said African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf in an interview with the China Media Group released on Friday.
These three areas are very important focus for the AU to achieve the Agenda 2063, Africa's development blueprint to achieve inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development over a 50-year period, said Youssouf.
"We are working on the transformation of the continent through industrialization. And industrialization has prerequisites. One of them is energy. So we are developing on the continent energy pools everywhere in the regions relying on renewables, developing our own resources of energies. So this is also where we are making progress," he said.
As 80 percent of African people live in rural areas, transforming agriculture is very important, Youssouf said.
"[We'll have] reliance on smart grains, smart irrigation and developing the capacity of the African continent to increase the production. So transformation is very important. If you have a value chain which helps the Africans to get the best value of their product instead of exporting raw materials, raw crops without transformation, tea, coffee, cacao, etc. African countries are really developing their capacity to transform these agricultural projects," he said.
Noting that trade between nations brings wealth, as well as peace and stability, Youssouf said the AU is working to intensify the trade relations within the continent.
"We are working on how best we can increase the intra-Africa trade figures. We're doing it through mechanism and strategies that we have put into place. One of the mechanisms is the African Continental Free Trade Area. This treaty has been signed and implemented since 2017 and then it has mechanisms inside it, [including] the certificate of origin, the compensation and payment mechanism, etc," he said.
African nations aim for industrialization, agricultural transformation, trade growth in future development: AU Commission chief
