The Africa-Europe Alliance proposal for sustainable investment and jobs was welcomed by EU Development Ministers at an exchange of views on Monday 26 November in Brussels, chaired by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini (see EUROPE 12143).
However, she did not speak to the press at the end of the session, as the press conference had been cancelled, like at previous meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council in its ‘Development’ format.
The exchange of views took place in preparation for the Africa-Europe High Level Forum on 17-18 December in Vienna. A meeting of EU and African Union foreign ministers will take place on 21 and 22 January.
According to several reliable sources, general support from development ministers was expressed for the four pillars of the Africa-Europe Alliance proposed by the Commission last September and welcomed by the European Council. Ministers also stressed the need for economic cooperation between the EU and Africa to be more "visible", as the EU is Africa's largest trading partner, which they said is not sufficiently highlighted.
The Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, stressed the importance of surveying Member States to identify precisely what each of them is doing and to promote synergies between the Commission's interventions and those of Member States on the African continent. This worry for greater coordination in the service of coherence to avoid any duplication has been, for years, a main concern of European development policy on how to improve its effectiveness. The idea was therefore supported. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)