The Civil Society Declaration adopted by the Civil Society Organizations gathered in Maputo from June 27th to July 2nd hereafter called Maputo Declaration, was presented to the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union through the Executive Council of the African Union.

For the Civil Society representatives in the AU this presentation marks the beginning of relationship between CS and Governments and is also a positive result of what was expected by CSO’s by organizing pre-summit meeting. The Declaration was adopted by the AU Executive Council and backed by the Organization of the African Trade Unions as representing CSO’s concerns.

As testimony of what transpired after the Declaration Presentation, the Council of Ministers report to the Summit touched some of the issues that are contained in the Declaration, specifically on the trade issues.

The Council of Ministers reaffirmed their need to stand united in CANCUN, especially in resisting discussions about the "new issues" scheduled for the fifth ministerial meeting of the WTO. The "new issues" also known as the Singapore issues include, competition, transparency in government procurement; and generally rolling back agreements that have exacerbated poverty, underdevelopment and injustice in Africa. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Minister of South Africa, Dr. NC Dlamini Zuma pointed out the need to address pharmaceutical issues at the WTO as they touch on public health.

The Council of Ministers also agreed that there is a need of promoting issues such as cultural heritage and diversity, amongst others. The ILO report presented to the Executive Council also touched on the Declaration concerns on the need of revising the Poverty reduction strategies. During the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government, the outgoing Chairperson, Mr Thabo Mbeki expressed the need for the AU to move faster in establishing ECOSOC, the Pan African Parliament and other organs of the AU that will ensure the participation of CSO’s and the general public of Africa.