Security staff members walk pass the flagpoles outside the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, on Jan. 28, 2014. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

ADDIS ABABA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- The 34th session of the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the African Union (AU) opened on Tuesday in the framework of the 29th AU summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

The 29th AU summit is held from June 27 to July 4 under the theme, "Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth."

The PRC meeting is expected to prepare the agenda of the AU Summit with appropriate recommendations for consideration by the AU Executive Council, scheduled to take place from June 30 to July 1, and will be followed by the session of AU heads of states on July 3-4.

In his opening remarks, Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the AU Commission, noted that the summit is being held at a time when Africa is facing multiple challenges, which require coherence actions and commitment from the AU member states.

The 29th AU summit focuses on the reform of the pan-African bloc, peace and security, and addressing issues related to migration among others.

The situations in South Sudan, Libya, Mali, Central African Republic (CAR), Burundi, DRC, the region of Darfur and Somalia are the hot issues as far as peace and security is concerned on the continent, according to the Chairperson of the AU Commission.

The PRC meeting brings all the ambassadors of the 55 AU member states based in Addis Ababa and other key AU officials.