Dialogue with the African Union

The EU Africa dialogue, or so-called Cairo-process, was launched with the #createURL('10_cairo_declaration_summit_3-4_apr_2000_en.pdf','EU-Africa Summit in Cairo in 2000')#. The dialogue was conceived as a forum for political dialogue where the whole of Africa could speak to Europe on issues of mutual interest. The African Union (AU), established in July 2002, has given a new "raison d'être" to the dialogue. Although it remains an EU-Africa dialogue, it is now recognised that the AU is the principal interlocutor on the African side. This has helped to make the discussions more structured and focused.

Structure

The dialogue takes place through the following regular meetings:

  • A small group of Ministers of the EU and AU, from the so-called 'troika countries', meets every six months. Every other time the meeting is held in the EU and every other time in Africa. The last meeting was in Vienna in May 2006 and the next meeting will take place in October 2006 in Congo, Brazzaville.

  • The two Commissions (The European Commission and the African Union Commission) have been mandated to prepare the ministerial meetings and to ensure follow-up. The Commissions interact at several levels. The top level consist of annual meetings between the respectieve College of Commissioners. The next meeting of this nature take place on 2 October, when the European Commission, represented by President Barroso and eight other Commissioners, and the Commission of the African Union will meet for a joint working session at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is in fact the first time that the European Commission will hold its first ever meeting on another continent. The discussions will focus on the institutional partnership and development. Both Commissions will review the progress in implementation of the EU Strategy for Africa and they will discuss how to better manage migration flows. They will also exchange experience in specific areas such as employment, science and technology or health. In addition both institutions will agree on a support programme of €55 million for the African Union's operational and institutional development and launch the exchange of officials and trainees between the two institutions. Every six months, senior officials meet in a Joint EC-AUC Task Force and there are also numerous, regular working-level contacts between various departments of the two Commissions.

  • The Heads of Mission of the European Commission's Delegation and of the Embassies of EU Member States in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, where the AU Commission has its Headquarters, engage in regular contact and dialogue with the African Union.

Areas for dialogue

The dialogue is focused on four clusters of issues:

  1. peace and security, linked to the development of a continental peace and security architecture;

  2. governance, including human rights and democracy, and the African Peer Review Mechanism

  3. regional integration and trade, touching, amongst other, the role of the AU in the Economic Partnership Agreements and in the framework of the WTO

  4. key development issues, including items such as debt, environment, food security, but also the return of stolen cultural goods.