Representatives of the European Commission and Commission of the African Union met June 8 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the implementation of the Africa-EU strategy. The meeting took place ahead of the third Africa-EU Summit, slated for Nov. 29-30, 2010, where the next action plan of an Africa-EU strategy for 2011-2013 is expected to be adopted.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will spearhead a delegation of 10 Commissioners at the Addis Ababa meeting, where seven thematic issues are to be tackled including:
- Administrative cooperation and institutional capacity-building, which will cover the signing of a memorandum of understanding on administrative cooperation between the two institutions.
- Political affairs, peace and security, governance and human rights, humanitarian affairs, including the development of a comprehensive crisis response mechanism that ensures continuity between humanitarian crises and state-building, as well as greater cooperation on the implementation of the African Peace and Security Architecture.
- Energy, environment and climate change issues such as the preparation for the Cancun climate summit.
- Social affairs, health, migration, employment, and education, including the establishment of an African Remittances Institute and the creation of a joint EU-AU political statement for September’s summit on Millennium Development Goals.
- Trade, regional integration, economic affairs and infrastructure.
- Space applications such as the development of satellite-based navigation services over the African continent.
- Food security and safety covering the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program.
