The Council adopted the following conclusions on “One year after Lisbon: the Africa-EU partnership at work” at the 2902nd GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting in Brussels on the 10 of November 2008.
1. The Council thanks the Commission for its communication “One year after Lisbon: the Africa-EU partnership at work”. It regards the communication as a useful contribution to the work initiated by the EU on assessing progress made one year after the Lisbon summit and identifying the main challenges to be met. It also considers that the content of the communication will contribute, along with, amongst other, contributions by the Africa-EU partnership implementation teams, to preparation of the joint progress report to be approved at the EU-Africa ministerial troika meeting in Addis Ababa on 20 and 21 November 2008.
2. The Council takes note of the priority activities proposed in the Commission working paper. It invites the European teams implementing the EU-Africa Action Plan to take them into consideration in their discussions, in particular with a view to forthcoming meetings of the joint expert groups.
3. The Council further notes the recommendations in the communication. It invites Member States to continue and intensify their efforts to implement the commitments of the Lisbon summit. It also invites them to encourage the mobilisation of African partner countries and regions with a view to implementing the eight partnerships under the EU-Africa Action Plan.”
