Brussels is already buzzing with motorcades as African leaders roll into town ahead of the sixth EU-AU summit Thursday and Friday. But there's a hitch … or three.
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The European Union and African Union are still negotiating the declaration for their long-awaited summit, beginning the day after tomorrow in Brussels. Each union has a slightly different vision — but it remains to be seen how and if they’ll find compromises on the remaining friction points.
Our EU correspondent Vince Chadwick tells us the key differences include:
• The investment package: The EU wants to present a list of projects jointly financed by the European Commission, EU states, and development finance institutions this week. The AU wants to develop a joint plan after the summit that better reflects both sides’ priorities, including a “fair and equitable” energy transition for Africa. Translation: not just renewables.
+ Devex Pro subscribers can learn more about the push and pull between energy access and reducing climate emissions, which is particularly evident on the African continent.
• Follow-up: The EU wants to follow up on the summit outcomes annually via existing structures and the Africa-Europe Foundation. The AU wants to create a new joint AU-EU Ministerial Follow-up Committee to monitor implementation of all commitments.
• The name: The EU wants to announce a “new alliance.” The AU, perhaps mindful that the pair’s last alliance is only four years old, prefers to talk about a “renewed partnership” building on existing strategies.
• Vaccines: The EU favors intellectual property licensing. The AU wants equitable vaccine access by all means possible, including a TRIPS waiver.
• Special Drawing Rights: The EU says a major part of the $100 billion reallocation target should go to Africa. The AU says it should all go to Africa.
• Migration: The EU is focused on preventing irregular migration, return, readmission, and reintegration. The AU wants to talk about assisted voluntary returns and expansion of legal pathways.
+ Pro subscribers can read about the EU's new migration tool in Africa.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could pull EU leaders’ attention elsewhere.
+ Closer look: We've been watching the AU-EU partnership as it unfolds. Stay tuned to Devex this week for more coverage of the summit — and follow Vince on Twitter for updates.
Set your watches
The World Bank will release its annual World Development Report today, so keep an eye out for our coverage. The focus this year is on the financial risks stemming from the pandemic and what policymakers can do to support an "equitable recovery." The report comes as the bank has been warning about rising levels of unsustainable debt and an increasingly uneven recovery between high- and low-income countries.
ICYMI: 74 lowest-income nations owe $13.1 billion to Chinese entities, says the World Bank
Barriers to recovery: Public disclosures about government debt in low-income countries are extremely limited, making it more difficult for governments to restructure their loans, the World Bank said in a report published in November.
Never too much
IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, is coming off of a record year of investments, with more than $3 billion mobilized from the private sector in 2021. And that’s despite foreign investment in Latin America and the Caribbean region dropping by about 45%, according to CEO James Scriven. Still, he wants to see even more private capital mobilized and is doubling down on a new strategy and organizational transformation focused on boosting mobilization, my colleague Adva Saldinger reports.
“We feel that we're creating a new development model — what we call IDB Invest 2.0,” he says. “It's a model of channeling international and local impact investors in our region through us. And that is an entire mindset. We’re probably one-third of the way there, but it’s my idea for the entire business to shift to this.”
Devex Pro: 'IDB Invest 2.0' strategy centers on mobilization of private capital
+ We cover more of “IDB Invest 2.0” in Devex Invested, our free weekly newsletter that takes you inside business, finance, and the SDGs. Plus, it features weekly investments of interests. Get the latest edition in your inbox today.
Cascading problems
“How long will the good deed that Bangladesh performed in 2017 … be allowed to justify a growing list of abuses against the Rohingya happening in the camps?”
— Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director, Human Rights WatchCriminality, kidnapping, a lack of adequate food, and scant medical supplies are widespread issues in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh — and the government isn’t being held to account, according to a new report by the Burma Human Rights Network. The report was based on interviews with 29 refugees from 10 different camps in the Cox’s Bazar region.
Bangladesh has sheltered the majority of the more than 700,000 Rohingya people that fled the Myanmar state of Rakhine in 2017 amid religious persecution from the Myanmar military alongside refugees who had fled Myanmar prior. But conditions inside the camps are deteriorating, according to the report.
Read: New report reveals 'miserable' conditions in Rohingya refugee camps
Catch up: We've been covering the Rohingya crisis, including the controversial Bangladeshi island of Bhashan Char, which the U.N. criticized but now operates on.
Following the money
Contract funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development dipped last year, according to a new Devex analysis identifying USAID’s top 50 contractors ranked by obligated funding. The agency committed $5.5 billion for contracts in fiscal year 2021, $568.8 million less than the previous year.
The overall decrease corresponds closely with a $563.6 million reduction in obligated funding for Chemonics, though it remains USAID’s largest contractor. Chemonics received 30% of USAID’s total contract obligation in 2021. Pro subscribers can peruse the full list of top contractors — and see who’s new to the list this year.
Devex Pro: Who were USAID’s top contractors in 2021?
Number crunching: Pro subscribers can also get full access to all our funding analyses on USAID, including the list of its top grantees in 2021. Not yet on Pro? Experience it for free for 15 days.
For your radar
USAID chief Samantha Power is scheduled to have a closed-door meeting with the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. A congressional aide tells Adva that the meeting is not classified and is “not responsive to any specific event.” It will be an opportunity to discuss issues the committee is tracking, the aide says.
In other news
As Russia continues to build its forces near Ukraine, the United States has moved its embassy from Kyiv to a temporary location in Lviv, in the western part of Ukraine, while the World Bank and IMF have also temporarily relocated their staff. [Reuters]
The United Nations launches a funding appeal of $686 million to support 5.3 million people in need of assistance in Mali. [UN News]
The Assad regime keeps a tight grip on aid in Syria, where relatives of senior government officials hold positions in the U.N., and contracts went to those close to the regime, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. [The Guardian]
Vince Chadwick, Shabtai Gold, and Adva Saldinger contributed to this edition.
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About the author
Stephanie Beasley@Steph_Beasley
Stephanie Beasley is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global philanthropy with a focus on regulations and policy. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and Oberlin College and has a background in Latin American studies. She previously covered transportation security at POLITICO.
