It will not be said that at a time when Ukraine is mobilising the EU’s attention and billions of euros, Africa is relegated to the background: the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, welcomed “fruitful” exchanges at the end of the meeting of the two Commissions, dedicated, on Monday 28 November, to the follow-up of the EU/Africa summit of February (see EUROPE 13071/9).
“In a difficult geopolitical context, the EU/Africa partnership is more necessary than ever”, said Ms von der Leyen.
A working group on fertilisers. In particular, she welcomed the establishment of a joint working group on fertilisers and the consultation on projects that could be financed by the €150 billion EU-Africa Global Gateway investment programme, notably in the energy sector.
As the EU diversifies its sources of supply, “we can join forces”, she said, referring to Africa’s huge potential in renewable energy, which could also “ bring economic opportunities to Africa”.
“Although weakened by the war in Ukraine, our priorities are known”, Moussa Faki said, referring to peace and security, but also the challenge of infrastructure and the intercontinental free trade area.
He stressed the importance of infrastructure “to make our integration effective through the physical connectivity” of energy, given that “600 million Africans are without electricity”, food security and “the envisaged compensation of losses and climate damage” suffered by African countries.
While the first section of a Northern Corridor highway, co-financed by the Global Gateway, has just been inaugurated in Kenya (see EUROPE 13067/22), many other projects are of interest to Africa - road and airport corridors.
“Our wish is to discuss it technically. The teams will continue to work to ensure that the investments materialise quickly”, said Mr Moussa Faki. At the February summit, the list of projects had not been finalised.
€750 million for infrastructure. The two Commissions agreed to launch a €750 million programme to support infrastructure investments in the areas of transport (including strategic corridors), digitalisation and energy connectivity in Africa.
They also agreed to establish a high-level dialogue on economic integration with a view to strengthening sustainable trade and investment relations between the two continents in order to foster the development of regional value chains and the industrialisation of Africa. The first meeting of this high-level dialogue will take place in 2023.
Moussa Faki was also received by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who had just visited some West African countries - Ghana to speak on security in the Sahel and the fight against the spread of terrorism (see EUROPE 13068/26) and Mauritania (see EUROPE 13067/21).
Investing faster and better. According to the High Representative of the Union, Josep Borrell, the follow-up to the EU-Africa summit was “the main topic of discussion” at the ‘Foreign Affairs/Development’ Council on Monday morning, which was also to address the EU’s coordinated response to the humanitarian crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan (see EUROPE 13071/7).
Less than half of the EU Member States were represented by a minister or state secretary (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden), according to the list of participants. No press conference was held.
For Mr Borrell, “in spite of the war in Ukraine, we have to continue engaging with Africa (...) especially in this case when food crisis and energy crisis are hitting severely the continent”. He added: “We have to invest quicker, more and smarter in Africa”.
The €150 billion of investment comes only partly from the EU budget, said the Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, stressing the leverage role of private funds.
“We must deepen the partnership with Africa, deepen it strategically, because we need each other in the fight against climate change, for the development of renewable energies and for the development of a social security system on the African continent”, said the German Minister, Svenja Schulze.
Sweden’s Minister for Development Cooperation and Trade, Johann Forsell, on the other hand, said that one of the main priorities of his country’s rotating presidency of the EU Council from January “will be to get more financial support for Ukraine, in terms of humanitarian aid, but also for the reconstruction of the country”, in addition to the trade support measures (see EUROPE 13071/10). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)