The EU and Angola are committed to strengthening their cooperation bilaterally and in multilateral fora, as reflected in the joint communiqué issued by the EU at the end of the fifth ministerial meeting, which took place by videoconference on 8 September.
The meeting was co-chaired by the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell, the Angolan Minister for External Relations, Tete Antonio, the Vice-President of the Commission for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, the Angolan Minister for Industry and Trade, Victor Fernandes, and the Secretary of State for the Economy, Mário Caetano.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to continue dialogue and cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora on priority areas, including human rights, in line with the activities of the EU-Angola Working Group on the subject. They hope to promote, if possible, trilateral cooperation between the EU, the UN and the African Union.
EU/AU Summit. Both sides want the EU/African Union Summit on 28-29 October to set an ambitious agenda. They would agree that sustainable investment and employment related to green transition and digital transformation, governance, peace and security should be priority areas.
Trade. The EU and Angola aim to build a strong trade and investment partnership. Both parties hope that Angola’s accession process to the EU/SADC Economic Partnership Agreement will start this year. They wish to promote and protect a rules-based multilateral system. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the reform of the WTO and to do their utmost to ensure the success of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference.
Covid-19. The EU presented the financial support package mobilised by ‘Team Europe’ as a response to the global pandemic and its fundraising marathon for a universal vaccine. A further €20 million has been announced to support Angola’s socio-economic response to the impact of the pandemic. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)