Joint EU-Africa strategy to fight poverty

The EU hopes next week to agree on the outline of a joint strategy with Africa that promises to move the continent away from aid dependency towards full participation in the world economy.

The ‘first outline’ of a joint EU-Africa strategy will be discussed when ministers from the two sides meet on 15 Mayin Brussels.

According to a draft which still has to be agreed by the African Union, the two sides will "move away from a partnership that is limited to a traditional pattern of recipient and donor relations".

It adds that both sides will work to "improve [African] economic governance and the investment climate in order to move away from continuous donor support and to find a place in global markets".

The aim is to have the joint strategy adopted at the EU-Africa summit planned for late 2007 in Lisbon.

An African Union diplomat welcomed the EU’s new approach. "This is what Africa has been asking for. We do not want to always have this relationship of donor and recipient."

In December 2005, the EU adopted a strategy towards Africa that led to a flurry of protests from African countries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which accused the Commission of failing to take into account Africa’s opinions.

"This has to be a joint strategy, so it cannot ignore the African concerns," said the African diplomat, adding that the 2005 strategy "was prepared by the EU unilaterally and then put in front of African leaders to approve it, which they did not do".

"We want to move to a real partnership."

But according to Hussaini Abdu, the head of African regional governance at ActionAid, a development NGO, the EU will have to reduce its conditionality on aid and assistance if an equal partnership is to come about.

"There is a real structural imbalance in relations between the EU and Africa, you can have all the rhetoric, speeches and joint strategies you like, but as long as the EU funds the partnership there is a structural imbalance. Europe has to accept it has a moral commitment to contribute to African development, without conditions."

The joint strategy is expected to state a shared commitment to human rights, democratic princ-iples and the rule of law.

The first EU-Africa summit took place in Cairo in April 2000. The second summit scheduled for Lisbon in April 2003 was postponed indefinitely by the EU because of political problems in Africa.

The EU hopes next week to agree on the outline of a joint strategy with Africa that promises to move the continent away from aid dependency towards full participation in the world economy.