A two-day Summit of Heads of State drawn from Africa and the Europe Union will open today in Tripoli, capital city of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The official opening ceremony of the summit which is scheduled for the Rixos Conference Centre down town Tripoli will witness the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) Commission leaders recall the road so far covered by Africa and Europe following the first two summits that have sought to reinforce historic ties between Africa and Europe - ties which predate colonial experience.
For the Libyan come together that is ending tomorrow November 30, 2010, the Heads of State and Government from Africa and Europe will among others centre their debate on the theme, “Investment, economic growth and job creation.”
Historical Context
With links between Africa and Europe having evolved from slave trade, colonization and post colonial challenges, the world has today been transformed by globalization into a veritable partnership where leaders are obliged to function in a give and take relationship. Thus, in 2007, Heads of State and Government from Europe and Africa launched the Joint Africa EU Strategic Partnership to pursue common interests beyond the focus of traditional development policy. Eight issues ensured the operational follow-up namely: peace and security; democratic governance and human rights; trade, regional integration and infrastructure; MDGs; energy; climate change; migration, mobility and employment; science, information society and space.
Such an innovative endeavour in Africa/European Union relations has come to underline the need for both peoples to operate as equal partners. The objective of the partnership has also been for Africa and the EU to work together to address global security challenges and improve the worldwide multilateral capacity to respond to crises. At the same time, it focuses on the capacity of Africa to take its share in the management of crises and security threats thereby tackling two main objectives: building the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and strengthening the dialogue between the EU and the AU on peace and security issues, such as counter-terrorism, disarmament, post conflict reconstruction and weapons of mass destruction.
In pursuance of some of the business goals of the AU/EU partnership, recent data indicate that the EU is by far the biggest trading partner for the African continent with 36% of total imports to Africa originating from Europe in 2009 compared to 12.7% for China, 6.2% for the USA and 3.2% for India. In the same year, 37% of exports from Africa went to the EU while the USA were said to be the second most important destination with 16.5%, followed by China (10.6%) and India (4.7%). Also, in support of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and its eight thematic partnerships, theEuropean Commission has committed €24.4 billion through its various financial instruments for the period 2007-2013.
Current Burning Issues
Consequently, as a run up to the Tripoli Summit, a specialized support structure such as the EU-Africa Business Forum held its fourth meeting in Tripoli from November 26-28 to enables the views of the business community to be presented to European and African political leaders and involve the private sector in defining Africa’s development policy and its relations with the EU. Focus at the business forum was on: looking at how to contribute to the development of an environment favourable to business and investment in Africa by encouraging entrepreneurial spirit, good governance and the reforms needed to boost investor confidence; to support the contribution of European companies to the development of the African private sector and to work in partnership to facilitate business opportunities; to strengthen the voice and position within Africa of the private sectors from both continents.
In line with such concerns, the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy said "In a context of increasing globalisation and economic and financial crisis, the Union's partnership with Africa is of strategic importance. We will address key issues like peace and security, global governance and regional integration. We will also step up our joint efforts to encourage investment, creating jobs and growth.” For his part, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso noted that "The European Union is building a strong and increasingly closer partnership with Africa.”
All these noble desires will gain greater steam as Africa and the European Union leaders continually integrate other stakeholders like parliaments, civil society and the private sector into their fold.
