The Joint EU-Africa Strategy is planned to be adopted at the Lisbon Summit. It is the second ever Summit between heads of state and government from EU and Africa and is planned to be held in Lisbon on 8-9 December, 2007. The first summit was held in Cairo in 2000.
The European Union and the African Union have in the past years strengthened their relations and participated in a structured dialogue since the first EU-African Summit in Cairo in 2000. Africa is a priority of the European Union as stated in the EU strategy for Africa adopted in December 2005 by the European Council and now both continents are heading towards a second EU-Africa Summit that should take place in Lisbon at the end of 2007.
The European Union and the African Union have thus decided to further strengthen the ties linking both continents by developing a co-owned ‘joint strategy’ which reflects the needs and aspirations of the peoples of Africa and Europe. The purpose of this joint strategy is to develop a political vision and practical approaches for the future partnership between the EU and Africa, based on mutual respect, common interests and the principle of ownership.
A public consultation was launched by the African Union Commission and the European Commission at the beginning of February. The aim was to gather civil society recommendations on the joint EU-Africa Strategy to be approved at the planned EU-Africa Summit in December 2007. The first phase of this consultation lasted until the end of April, with the approval of an outline of the future joint Strategy on 15 May by the joint EU-Africa Ministerial Troika Meeting.
The first phase of the consultation was mainly carried out through an Internet consultation on this website, open to all Europeans and Africans. It also comprised a seminar organised by the African Union Commission (AUC) for a number of representatives of African civil society in Accra, Ghana, on 26-28 March and a conference co-organised by VENRO and ECDPM in Bad Honnef, Germany, on 23-24 April.
In the second phase, ECDPM will focus on sharing information on the official negotiations, on related events and positions of civil society representatives as well as provide some analysis on the progress of the negotiations. The website will thus be more geared towards information sharing than towards moderating on-line discussions as was the case with the Internet consultation until May 2007. Contributions and position papers will be published, and shared with the officials and all interested actors.
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.europaafrica.org
