Established in 2007 as an innovative new partnership between the Africa and the EU, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) is being reviewed. This is done to improve its architecture and prepare for its next Action Plan 2011-2013, to be adopted at the Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli this November. In this process, Commission president José Manuel Barroso, accompanied by 10 European Commissioners, met with the African Union Chairperson, Jean Ping and African Union Commissioners in Addis Ababa on 8 June.

This was the first time that European Commissioners who took office this year met their African counterparts. The creation of an EU delegation to the AU in Addis Ababa in 2008 set the stage for even closer dialogue between the two Unions.

The joint declaration adopted at the end of the meeting includes commitments to address long-term threats to stability, peace and security in Africa, Europe and world-wide. The parties are also hoping to make progress towards a closer partnership in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to climate policy. The Commissions also adopted a new Memorandum of Understanding on administrative cooperation and institutional capacity-building with the AU.

Read Concord Recommendations for the review of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy here.
Read the Joint Declaration adopted at the Addis Ababa meeting on 8 June here.

Sources:

• EEAS
• CTA