The second joint EU-Africa expert meeting took place on 23-24 March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The officials continued the discussions from the initial brainstorming held in February and drafted a first version of the outline of the strategy. A summary report of the public consultation was presented at the meeting, and it was argued that civil society should be involved in the second phase leading up to the Lisbon Summit, as well as in the implementation of the strategy.
A drafting committee was set up, which will meet on the 12-14/4 in Addis Ababa and on the 26-28/4 in Europe after the civil society seminar near Bonn, to finalise an outline of the strategy to be presented at the joint Ministerial Troika meeting on 15 May.
