Brussels, 26/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - Extending the European Union's relations with Africa is a key priority for the EU. It is not only that Africa benefits from the EU, for it is also an essential trading partner in a number of major regional and international areas of common interest. This was the message delivered by Vice-President of the European Commission Antonio Tajani at the opening of the Fourth EU-Africa Business Forum on Friday 26 November in Tripoli, Libya, entitled “Shaping the future of Africa: the private sector, a crucial partner”.
The forum will end on Saturday 27 November and is being attended by representatives of countries in Africa and Europe, managers of multinationals and small, medium and large companies, business confederations, and multilateral and regional institutions. It is being held on the fringes of the Third EU-Africa summit, a political summit in the Libyan capital on 29 and 30 November where 80 heads of state will discuss investment, economic growth and job creation (see EUROPE 10264). Their political conclusions will take the form of a 2011-2013 Action Plan to be agreed upon at the summit.
The European Commission is represented at the Business Forum by Vice-President Antonio Tajani, who made the opening address, and by EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who will be one of the closing speakers. The forum aims to improve the business climate in Africa and promote investment. Areas of discussion include trade and regional integration, ICT and space applications, infrastructure, raw materials, small business and entrepreneurship.
The opening ceremony examined the state of EU-African partnerships and how to discuss the investment and trade opportunities and challenges in Africa. In his speech, Antonio Tajani said that development cooperation should help create the conditions for inclusive, sustainable economic growth, adding that the role of the private sector was crucial in Africa given the unique contribution it can make to speeding up economic growth and poverty reduction.
Antonio Tajani explained that Africa had to be helped to strengthen its political and economic governance in order to sustainably mobilise its natural resources. To this end, genuine cooperation needs to be developed when it comes to raw materials, African countries should be helped to boost their capacity in the field of space applications and land observation, access to medicines should be improved and high quality, competitive tourism developed. (Gp/transl.fl)