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EU-Africa Dialogue in Burkina Faso

Ministers from 53 African countries and the 15 EU Member States meet in Burkina Faso on 28 November in the second Ministerial meeting of EU-Africa dialogue. The European Commission will be represented by Mr. Poul Nielson, the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid. This note provides information on the EU-Africa dialogue and preparations for this meeting. A list of relevant web site addresses is included at the end of the note where many of the background documents can be found.

What is the EU-Africa dialogue?

The EU-Africa dialogue is a process of political dialogue between the EU and Africa launched by the first Africa-Europe Summit held in Cairo on 3-4 April 2000 and attended by Heads of State. It is also referred to as the Cairo process. The next Summit with the Heads of States will be held in Lisbon on 4-5 April 2003. The Ouagadougou Ministerial Conference is the second Ministerial conference after the Ministerial Meeting in October 2001 in Brussels. The main task of both ministerial conferences is to prepare to Lisbon Summit.

The Cairo Declaration and the Cairo Plan of Action, covering a wide variety of topics and signed in Cairo the 4th of April, 2000, serve as a guideline and point of reference for the EU-Africa dialogue.

What are the topics dealt with by the EU-Africa dialogue?

The Cairo Plan of Action (2000) covered a wide variety of topics. In the follow up to Cairo, at the Bi-Regional Group of Senior Officials and at the First Ministerial Conference held in Brussels in October 2001, discussion was structured around the following eight topics:

• external debt
  
• the return of cultural stolen goods
  
• conflict prevention
  
• human rights, democracy and good governance
  
• regional integration and trade
  
• HIV/AIDS
  
• food security
  
• environment.

What is the expected outcome of the Ouagadougou Ministerial Conference?

The Ouagadougou Ministerial Conference will prepare the ground for the Lisbon Summit. On the each of the 8 topics and EU-Africa relations in general, political dialogue will take place between the African and European ministers at the Ministerial conference or at the Bi-Regional Group that precedes the conference. More precise outcomes are expected in the field of conflict prevention and human trafficking.

Since the Cairo Summit, the geopolitical context in Africa has changed with the setting up of the African Union and NEPAD. Taking this into account, European and African ministers are also expected to discuss how the dialogue will evolve and which new modalities will be defined after the Lisbon Summit (April 2003). The meeting is likely to adopt a Communiqué and joint declaration on terrorism.

What are the African Union (AU) and NEPAD?

Since the Cairo Summit, several important developments have taken place on the African continent. At the Durban Summit of July 2002, the African Union was launched, thus opening a new chapter in the history of the continent. As stipulated in the Constitutive Act, the AU will have stronger political competencies and a broader economic mandate than its predecessor the OAU, especially in the field of conflict prevention, good governance and regional integration. In parallel, African leaders have been promoting the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which has attracted considerable international attention and promises of support from the donor community.

The European Union fully supports these new pan-African developments. The AU has already approached the Commission for advice. Following discussions held between December 2001 and March 2002 Commission is prepared to give practical support to the transition, via a Capacity Building programme that is currently being assessed. A decision should be made before the end of 2002.

What role do the African Union and NEPAD play in the EU-Africa dialogue?

The development of a new pan African level of governance creates a new framework for the EU-Africa dialogue. The developments should create a new political momentum and a "new raison d'être" to the EU-Africa dialogue which has been rather slow and tedious until now. The EU-Africa dialogue is the only forum and framework to discuss with the whole of Africa issues with continental implications such as debt, peace and security, regional integration and trade, political and economic governance, support to new institutional structures-and pan African initiatives (AU/NEPAD…). It is a helpful coincidence that the Cairo Plan of Action defined those themes that are best handled at continental level and constitute also the priorities of the AU and NEPAD. This is clearly the core of the added value of the EU-Africa dialogue.

The success of the EU-Africa dialogue and the progress achieved should not be measured in terms of its capacity to identify new projects but in its capacity to develop common understanding on key issues and to facilitate the elaboration of proposals and their follow up in the appropriate frameworks.

European Commission: http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/eu_africa_en.htm

NEPAD: http://www.nepad.org/

African Union: http://www.africa-union.org/

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• Commissioner Nielson's visit to Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali (25/11/2002)
• Speech by Commissioner Lamy on NEPAD (9/10/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - NEPAD (25/9/2002)
• EU Presidency Statement - NEPAD (16/9/2002)
• European Commission Statement on NEPAD (16/9/2002)