The European Foreign Ministers had a long discussion on Thursday 27 May in Lisbon on the EU’s relations with Africa in view of the future strategic partnership between the two continents (see EUROPE 12727/17).
Speaking after the informal ministerial meeting, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stressed the importance of the EU’s privileged relationship with Africa being “more proactive, more engaged, more vocal”, in a context of “geopolitical competition” that sees other actors acting to gain influence on the economy and development of the African continent.
Recalling that Africa is a young continent, with 60% of its population under 25 years old and project to have 2 billion inhabitants in 30 years according to UN forecasts, he said that this continent “requires a lot of attention”.
The European Union and Africa account for 40% of the votes at the UN, Mr Borrell said, arguing that the partners’ voice in international fora must be improved.
As the EU is already the leading partner in terms of foreign investment, “four times more than China”, and development aid (€20 billion in 2019), the High Representative said the Union “must benefit” from this unparalleled commitment. He also referred to the €1 billion that the EU is ready to invest to support production capacity and access to vaccines and anti-Covid-19 drugs on the African continent (see EUROPE 12726/22).
Portugal’s Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, stressed that Africa is one of the “hot topics and a priority” of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, especially in view of the sixth EU-African Union summit. To this end, the Portuguese Presidency recently organised the EU-Africa High Level Forum on Green Investment (see EUROPE 12705/20).
“We must build together a joint strategy for the development of continent-to-continent cooperation”, he said.
He recalled that the ecological and energy transition, the digital transition, investments, skills and human resources, and the rule of law should be at the heart of this partnership. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)