Starting at 9 am in Lisbon for thematic discussions, the sixth EU-AU summit, which aims to revitalize the partnership between the two blocs taking into account the new global challenges, is scheduled to end at 11 am, with a ceremony between European and African leaders.
This morning, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, will co-chair the round table dedicated to education and migration, in which the director-general of the International Organization for Migration, António Vitorino, and the secretary of -General of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, Louise Mushikiwabo.
Even so, attention is focused this Friday on what is predicted to be one of the main concrete 'results' of this summit and which was already anticipated by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the occasion of her visit last week to Senegal (the country currently holding the AU presidency): an investment plan for Africa that will mobilize around 150 billion euros 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.
European and AU leaders met between Thursday and Friday in Brussels for the sixth EU-Africa summit, which was successively postponed due to the pandemic and aims to revitalize a partnership threatened by the Russian and Chinese presence on the African continent.
This EU-AU summit, originally scheduled for 2020, was finally able to take place due to the evolution of the pandemic situation, which made it possible for around seven dozen heads of state and government from both continents to be present in Brussels.
Almost five years after the previous meeting of EU and AU leaders, held in Abidjan in 2017, Brussels hosted the VI summit, which was attended by around 70 delegations at the highest level from the Member States of the two organizations, including Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP).
Portuguese-speaking African countries were all represented at the highest level at the summit, including 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.
In addition to the 27 EU Heads of State and Government and the more than 40 leaders of the AU member countries who confirmed their presence at the summit, several officials from the most diverse organizations participated.
