The African Union Commission and the European Commission meet to address shared EU-Africa challenges
The African Union Commission and the European Commission will hold their annual College-to-College meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is the biggest EU-Africa event of the year.
Discussions will focus on the current shared challenges facing both continents, along with the 5 priority areas of the 2014-2017 Roadmap: (i) peace and security; (ii) democracy, good governance and human rights; (iii) human development; (iv) sustainable and inclusive development and growth and continental integration; (v) global and emerging issues.
The meeting aims in particular to further address stability challenges and the root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa. It will also identify opportunities for mutual benefits towards sustainable and inclusive development. In addition, the meeting will look ahead to the next Africa-EU Summit, which is to take place in 2017 in Africa.
The background:
College-to-College meetings between the European Commission and the African Union Commission (AUC) are held annually since 2008 to provide momentum to the Africa-EU Partnership. They bring together the two Commissions for political and policy dialogue to provide oversight and strategic guidance for the partnership going forward. The meetings are held on an alternating basis in Brussels and Addis Ababa.
The 4thAfrica-EU Summit of April 2014 reaffirmed a commitment of the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy and the ambition to deepen political dialogue and cooperation. The principle of EU-AU Summits every three years, annual College-to-College meetings, and Peace and Security Council-to-Political and Security Committee meetings was confirmed, to be complemented by regular high level contacts between European and African Leaders on common challenges and crisis situations (e.g. Valletta).
The event:
The 8thCollege-to-College meeting between the European Commission and the African Union Commission will be held on 7 April 2016 in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.