25 05 11 Meeting of African Union Commission and European Commission
The
Strategic Partnership between Africa and the EU pursues common objectives beyond
the traditional donor-recipient focus, in a dialogue of equal counterparts.
The EU is the biggest trading partner
for the African continent. In 2009, 36% of total imports to Africa originated in
Europe. In support of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and its
thematic partnerships, the European Commission has committed €24.4 billion
through its various financial instruments for the period
2007-2013.
The programme of
the meeting between the two Commissions covers two days and is divided between
thematic cluster meetings of Commissioners, bilateral meetings and a plenary
session, which takes place in the morning of 1 June. Discussions aim at
strengthening the political and technical cooperation between the two
institutions, provide fresh impetus to the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU
Strategy and elements for the future political agenda.
Two key
events of this meeting will be broadcast
live on Europe by satellite, in English and in French. This means
concretely that you can watch these two events live via webstreaming on your
computer screen.
– The first
event is a briefing given by Klaus Rudischhauser, Director for African,
Caribbean and Pacific Countries and General Affairs from the European Commission
held on 27 May Brussels. The TIME is 13h Brussels time (tbc). The briefing will
inform journalists ahead of the meeting of the priority areas that will be
discussed by the two colleges, such as growth, democracy, trade, climate change,
but also recent developments in Northern Africa, Ivory Coast or
Sudan.
– The second
event is the joint final press conference held on 1 June at the European
Commission by President Barroso and AU Commission Chairperson Ping.
The TIME is
12h40 Brussels time (tbc).
How to
proceed technically?
The live
signal of both events can be followed via a webstream on the following website:
http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/schedule.cfm.
On 27 May, the
European Commission will publish a background document on the Joint Africa-EU
Strategy. You will be able to find the documents online at http://europa.eu/press_room/index_en.htm.
To facilitate
your work we will send you a full package of all updated publications and press
releases for the Commission-to-Commission meeting. This second e-mail will
also contain information about new video material which illustrates the
Africa-EU Partnership and which you can download and use for free in your
reporting.
Background on the Joint Africa-EU
Strategy
80 Heads of State and Government from
Africa and Europe adopted the Africa-EU Joint Strategy in Lisbon in December
2007. Both sides agreed to pursue common interests and strategic objectives
together, beyond the traditional donor-recipient focus – the two continents
started cooperating as equal partners. The Joint Strategy outlines a long-term
shared vision of the future of Africa-EU relations in a globalized world. It
goes
Based on this vision and on common
principles, the Africa-EU Joint Strategy defines eight specific
partnerships:
· Peace and security
· Democratic governance and human rights
· Trade, regional integration and
infrastructure
· Millennium development goals (MDGs)
· Energy
· Climate change
· Migration, mobility and
employment
· Science, information society and
space
In late November
2010, African and EU leaders met again, under the overarching topic “Investment,
Economic Growth and Job Creation” to take cooperation between the two continents
to a new, more ambitious level. A joint Action Plan 2011-2013 was adopted,
including concrete actions to be pursued or launched on the strategic areas and
building on accomplishments since 2007.
Recent
publications for the press on the Joint Africa-EU
Strategy:
Commission press
release IP 10/1605
and background MEMO 10/604
on the 3rd Africa-EU Summit, 29 November
2010
Background
information on the Partnership and its eight thematic areas can be found at: http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/
Website of the
European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm
Website of the
African Union Commission: http://www.au.int/en/commission
Distributed by the Africa Press
Organization on behalf of the European Commission