Leaders summit to revive EU/Africa partnership kicks off in Brussels

This summit between the EU and the African Union (AU), originally scheduled for 2020, can finally take place in view of the evolution of the pandemic situation, which allows the presence in Brussels of around seven dozen heads of state and government from the two continents, but takes place in the midst of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, which will lead, moreover, the leaders of the European Union, including Prime Minister António Costa, to hold an informal meeting on the 27th to discuss the most recent developments.

Almost five years after the previous meeting of EU and AU leaders, held in Abidjan in 2017, Brussels hosts the VI summit, which will be attended by around 70 delegations at the highest level from the Member States of the two organisations, including Portugal. and Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP).

The Portuguese-speaking African countries should all be represented at the highest level at the summit, with the heads of state of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, the vice president of Angola and the prime minister of Cape Verde expected.

In addition to the 27 EU Heads of State and Government, including António Costa, and the more than 40 leaders of the AU member countries who confirmed their presence at the summit, several "external guests" from the most diverse organizations will participate, including the directors-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Nigerian Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Portuguese António Vitorino.

Absent will be four countries that the African Union suspended and did not invite to the Brussels summit, as they were the scene of coups d'état, namely Burkina Faso, Mali, Sudan and Guinea-Conakry.

Also in view of the strong adhesion, welcomed by European diplomatic sources - who noted that, at the African Union summit held at the beginning of the month in Ethiopia, no more than 30 heads of state participated -, this VI summit will have an unprecedented format, having the same sources explained that instead of a "long plenary session with so many delegations" that would hardly produce results, several thematic roundtables will take place, moderated by the leaders themselves (one or two heads of state and government from each side, EU and AU) .

The seven roundtables will be devoted to the themes "financing for sustainable and inclusive growth", "climate change and energy, digital and transport transition", "peace, security and governance", "support for the private sector and economic integration", " education, culture, professional training, migration and mobility", "agriculture and sustainable development" and "health systems and vaccine production".

One of the main concrete results of this summit, whose objective is to revitalize the EU-AU partnership taking into account the new global challenges, was already anticipated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the occasion of her visit last week to Senegal ( country that currently chairs the African Union): an investment plan for Africa that will mobilize around €150 billion over the next seven years.

This is the first regional plan within the framework of the European Union's new investment strategy, the 'Global Gateway', understood as a response to the "New Silk Road" - a project that China has already underway worldwide.

The VI EU-UA summit starts at 2:15 pm local time (the same time in Luanda), and, after an opening ceremony in a plenary session, the first series of round tables will take place - closed to the press - until the dinner of the heads of state and Government, in a museum in Brussels.

On Friday, the thematic discussions will start at 09:00 and the closing ceremony of the summit is scheduled for 11:00.

Before the summit, an informal meeting of EU Heads of State and Government will then take place this Thursday, starting at 12:30, to discuss "the latest developments" in the Ukraine-Russia crisis, at a time when the West welcomes Moscow's announcements of troop withdrawal with skepticism, as it is not seeing this on the ground.