Libyan leader Muammar al-Qathafi(C) arrives at the conference center of the United Nations' Economic Commission of Africa(ECA) prior to the opening ceremony of the 12th AU Summit in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on February 2, 2009. [Xinhua]

The African Union (AU) started the opening ceremony of its 12th Summit on Monday morning here in the Ethiopian capital, with infrastructure development, financial crisis, and regional security and safety issues high on the agenda for the next two days.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa and several African heads of state and government will deliver their speeches on the ceremony.

Delegates to the summit will mainly discuss Africa's infrastructure development, with emphasis on transport, energy and investment sectors.

Besides the main theme of infrastructure development, the African leaders will also exchange ideas on the global financial crisis' impact on African countries and on how to take coordinated measures to steer their economies through the crisis.

A number of hot regional issues, such as security situation in Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan's Darfur region and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are also expected to be discussed by the African heads of state and government during the summit.

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2009)