September 18, 2011 - China's President Hu Jintao is scheduled to visit Addis Ababa in early January to inaugurate the new African Union headquarters, according to The Reporter.

China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) is building the massive new complex. The work on the project will be finalised on schedule, according to officials of CSCEC.

Addressing the Chinese delegation at the fourth annual China-Africa Strategic Dialogue held in Addis last May, AU Chairman Jean Ping described China as the AU's "good and reliable partner". "We cannot thank China and it's leaders enough for it," Ping said.

The new AU’s edifice, which is being built on an area of around 11.3 hectares inside the headquarters of the AU, has cost the Chinese government about 150 million dollars. Work on the project commenced in January 2009, and should be completed by December 2011.

The current premises housing the annual AU meetings were built in the 1960s at the beginning of the creation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), predecessor of the AU.