In the framework of the Africa-EU dialogue, the 10th Ministerial Meeting of the African and EU Troikas took place in Brussels, Belgium on 16 September 2008.
The meeting of Ministers was co-chaired by H.E. Bernard K. Membe, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania and current chairperson of the African Union (AU) Executive Council, and H.E. Mr. Alain Joyandet, Secretary of State in Charge of Cooperation and Francophone Affairs of France. The African Troika was also composed of H.E. Dr. Maxwell M. Mkwezalamba, AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs; H.E. Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security and the representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana.
The Troika was also attended by Mr. Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid and relations with ACP countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, H.E. Mr. Karel Schwarzenberg and Ms. Helga Schmid, Director of the Policy Unit of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy.
Joint Africa-EU Strategy
In the foreground of the Africa-EUTroika was the stocktaking of the progress of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the endorsement of the implementation architecture and the involvement of external partners and the way forward.
Both sides debriefed each other about the consultations conducted since the Lisbon Summit on each continent to define the necessary institutional set up needed to carry out an efficient and speedy implementation of the Africa-EU Joint Strategy and its first Action Plan.
The EU side emphasised the recent reform of its Council structures tasked with the follow up of the Africa-EU dialogue and stressed the aid effectiveness and division of labour oriented character of the arrangement made for the implementation of the Joint Strategy. Ministers underlined the necessity to involve key stakeholders in the implementation process, including EU Member States and African countries, African Regional Economic Communities, the Pan African and the European Parliaments, local authorities, and non-state actors from continents including civil societies, the private sector and the academic communities.
Ministers also emphasised the important role played by the African chefs de file as well as by the AU Permanent Mission to the EU and the EU Delegation to the AU in the further deepening the partnership.
Moreover, the troika has welcomed the progress report presenting the details of these political and institutional arrangements and adopted its recommendations. They particularly emphasised the need to make speedy progress on the implementation of the eight Africa-EU partnerships and urged all parties to finalise any remaining technical discussions regarding the implementation of the institutional set up.
They called upon African and European experts to start the meetings of the informal Joint Experts Groups as soon as possible with a view to achieving together tangible results in time for the next Ministerial Troika which will take place on 20/21 November 2008 in Africa.
Furthermore, the troika has requested that efforts be made to allocate funds in order to foster the implementation of the first Action Plan. They also invited the joint AU-EU Task Force and the next meeting of Commissioners of the EC and the AUC to contribute further to the collective efforts to implement the Joint Strategy and its Action Plan.
Food and oil price crisis
Both partners have recognised the need to react to the current food crisis in Africa. They have also triggered social unrest in a number of countries and may pose a threat to stability and human security. The EU and the AU agreed that the international community has to give in the short, medium and long term a fully coordinated response to the food crisis as a step towards a global partnership for food and agriculture.Ministers agreed that support in this area will be provided in the framework of country-owned and country-led plans, based on national policies and strategies and noted with satisfaction that such plans are being developed in various African countries in the context of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP)
Climate Change and Environment
hey underlined their joint commitment to the objectives and principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol and agreed on the necessity to formulate an effective, comprehensive and global agreement on a future framework for a post 2012 climate change agreement before the end of 2009. They affirmed the urgent need to work closely together on the development of all elements of a post-2012 climate change framework agreement, specifically in the area of adaptation to climate change and the mitigation of its negative effects and jointly underlined the need to muster political will to take stronger action on climate change and to examine how the international framework could facilitate such action.
The EU has presented its recent initiative, the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), with developing countries, which is designed to help Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in particular to increase their capacity to adapt to and mitigate the negative effects of climate change and pursue sustainable development strategies. Thus they have agreed that the operationalisation of the GCCA in the African continent including its political dialogue component should take place within the agreed Africa-EU Joint Strategy/Action Plan partnership on climate change and with the ultimate objective to adopt a joint EU-Africa declaration at the appropriate political level as soon as practicable in view of the Poznan UNFCCC Conference in December 2008 and the conference in Copenhagen in 2009.
RECs
African Economic Communities (RECs) will play an essential role as building blocks of the continental integration process within a flexible and gradual approach. In view of the importance of infrastructure development to integration, both parties expressed the need to reinforce the dialogue in the implementation of the start-up activities of the EU-Africa Infrastructure Partnership/EU-Africa Partnership on Energy with a view to facilitating interconnectivity and accelerating continental and regional integration.
Updates on current situation in Africa and Europe
In addition, the troika has also talked and updated each other about the current situation in Africa and Europe. On the agenda was Sudan/Chad, Somalia, Zimbabwe and Mauritania as well as current european issues such as Georgia and Kosovo.
