1. MEMO/13/367
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
MEMO
Brussels, 23 April 2013
Key facts on the Joint Africa-EU Strategy
On 25-26 April, The African Union (AU) Commission and the European Commission will be
meeting in Addis Ababa for their 6th annual College-to-College session. The high-level
event serves as a political kick-off to pave the road for the upcoming Africa-EU summit in
2014. The agenda will revolve around common challenges faced by both continents, such
as peace and security, and shared interests, in particular the pursuit of inclusive and
sustainable growth.
Participants will also discuss progress and the way forward for the Joint Africa-EU strategy
that puts EU relations with Africa on a new footing, based on the pursuit of shared values,
common interests and strategic objectives. Both sides are determined to overcome the
traditional donor-recipient relationship and strengthen their cooperation as equal partners,
based on their shared long-term vision for Africa-EU relations in a globalised world.
The Africa-EU partnership has delivered results in different areas of cooperation, including
peace and security, democratic governance, infrastructure, and Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). For example, the African Peace Facility is now recognised as the tool that
helps to find ‘African solutions to African problems’, as demonstrated by on-going peace
support operations in Somalia, the Central African Republic and Mali. In infrastructure,
over 80 projects have received support for a total value of over €6.5 billion and it was
estimated that the return on investment was 12 times what had initially been invested.
Even if Africa is expanding its economic relations with other continents, the EU remains
Africa's top trading partner. The EU is also the main donor of Official Development
Assistance to Africa worldwide. Since the adoption of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the EU
has mainstreamed the new priorities in its various aid and cooperation instruments.
Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES)
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy was adopted by Heads of State and Government from Africa
and Europe at the Lisbon Summit in December 2007.
The Joint Strategy focuses on moving:
• Beyond development cooperation, by opening up the Africa-EU dialogue and
cooperation to issues of joint concern and interest such as jobs and trade;
• Beyond Africa by moving away from the traditional focus on purely African
development matters, towards effectively addressing global challenges such as
migration, climate change, peace and security;
• Beyond fragmentation, in supporting Africa’s aspirations to find trans-regional and
continental responses to some of the most important challenges;
• Beyond institutions, in working towards a people-centred partnership, ensuring
better participation of African and European citizens.

2. Based on these common principles, the Joint Africa-EU Strategy defines eight specific
areas of cooperation:
1. Peace and Security,
2. Democratic Governance and Human Rights,
3. Trade, Regional Integration and Infrastructure,
4. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),
5. Energy,
6. Climate Change and Environment,
7. Migration, Mobility and Employment,
8. Science, Information Society and Space.
Key results of the Partnership
Since the 2010 Africa-EU Summit, the EU and Africa have been active in supporting the
implementation of the second Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES) action plan 2011-2013,
which was set up by the European Commission, in collaboration with its African partners,
to deliver more and better results.
The last Africa-EU Summit in November 2010 emphasised the need for a link between
closer economic cooperation and integration, and highlighted the importance of increased
private sector engagement. It also called for enhanced cooperation in the fields of science
and information society: to create a more inclusive knowledge-based and globally
competitive economy. In their Summit Declaration, leaders renewed their commitments
and adopted an Action Plan (2011-2013), calling for reinforced cooperation in the eight
priority areas and the setting up of support mechanisms to facilitate the process.
Under the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, results have been achieved in many areas of
cooperation.
A few key examples are highlighted below:
The African Peace Facility (APF)
The APF is the operational tool of the Africa-EU partnership on peace and security.
Through this instrument, the EU supports the AU and other African regional organisations
in finding ‘African solutions to African problems’. The missions financed by the Facility are
led and staffed by Africans.
Since the creation of the APF in 2004, the EU has committed more than €1.1 billion for
Peace Support Operations (PSOs), Capacity-building programmes and the Early Response
Mechanism (ERM). The three on-going Peace Support Operations are AMISOM (the AU
Mission in Somalia), MICOPAX (the Mission for the Consolidation of Peace in the Central
African Republic) and AFISMA (the African-led International Support Mission to Mali).
The EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund (AITF)
The EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure is a cornerstone of the EU Strategy for Africa.
The partnership aims to increase European and African investment in infrastructure and
related services. It mixes grants and loans to increase the total amount for infrastructure
projects in Africa. Its total endowment is €746.4 million. The total allocation from the
Commission now stands at €638 million. The remaining amount has been contributed by
the participating EU Member States.
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3. To date, the AITF has awarded over 80 grants to infrastructure projects that represent a
total value of over €6.5 billion in the investment phase. Each Euro of AITF grant funding is
estimated to generate €12 in total investments. Recent examples include the Geothermal
Risk Mitigation Facility in Central and East Africa, the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation
projects in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone & Guinea
Power Interconnector in Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, as well as the
Kampala bypass in Uganda.
The African Union Support Programme (AUSP)
Through the AUSP the EU has allocated €55 million under the European Development Fund
to provide support to AU institutions, notably to assist the African Union Commission
(AUC) in speeding up the Institutional Reform Process. This support aimed to enable the
AU Commission to effectively play its role as “motor” of the African integration process and
to facilitate the deepening of the partnership between Africaand the EU. The AUSP will be
followed-up with a second phase of in total €30 million as well as with amount of €10
million for technical support to support the implementation of the priorities of the second
Action Plan of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.
The Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)
Under the European Development Fund (EDF) and Development Cooperation Instrument
(DCI), Food Security Thematic Program, the EU has provided support to the CAADP
process at continental, regional and national level. African Institutions (AUC, New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Agency and Regional Economic
Communities (RECs) were directly supported to lead the CAADP process (through a Multi
Donor Trust Fund).
The implementation at national level shows significant achievements include the
strengthened capacity of Member States to develop and implement CAADP-based
Agriculture and Food Security Investment Plans as well as to coordinate policy
development and harmonisation for effective design and implementation of country
policies, strategies and plans. Apart from that, the funding and alignment to country
agricultural development priorities by development partners has been increased while
strong and credible partnerships for increased investments in agriculture have been
created.
Climate to Development in Africa (CLIMDEV Africa)
In April 2012, an €8 million contribution has been granted by the EU to the ClimDev Africa
initiative to support Africa’s response to climate variability and climate change. The first
step in this support was the setting-up of the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), which
provides support to the African Union Commission and its Member states in developing
policies related to climate change and addresses the need for greatly improved climate
information in Africa.
Moreover, one key activity consists of facilitating Africa’s contribution to the negotiation
process on the post-2012 climate agreement through analytical studies and consultative
workshops and providing support for the development of a common African position on
climate issues. ClimDev is completed by further important projects of EU-Africa climate
change and environment cooperation, including the Global Climate Change Alliance, the
Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel, and the Africa Soil Atlas.
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4. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
The objectives of the APRM are primarily to foster the adoption of policies, standards and
practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development
and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration through experience
sharing and reinforcement of successful and best practices, including identifying
deficiencies and assessment of requirements for capacity building.
Since 2009 the European Commission has contributed €2 million to the UNDP-managed
Trust Fund to support the APRM Secretariat.
The Nyerere Programme
This initiative aims to contribute to the production and retention of high-level African
human resources with Masters and PhD degrees in key areas which are relevant to Africa’s
social and economic development; by enhancing academic and student mobility within
Africa and contributing to capacity-building.
The African Higher Education Harmonisation and Tuning initiative
Implementing the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of Education for Africa, the AU
Commission started to promote quality assurance and developing a framework for
harmonization of higher education programmes in Africa. The potential contribution of the
"Tuning Educational Structures and Programmes" methodology, an instrument used for
harmonizing study programmes and degree profiles in Europe, to support the African
Higher Education Harmonization Strategy was recognized by stakeholders on both
continents. A pilot initiative involving 60 universities across Africa in five subject areas
(education, medicine, agriculture, mechanical and civil engineering) has just been
completed. Work is now underway to consolidate and validate the new degree profiles with
the relevant authorities and professional associations and to prepare for a full scale
initiative which should extend the number of countries, universities and subject areas and
will also include a dedicated platform for the ministries of (higher) education in order to
support the development of a continental accreditation process within Africa.
AU-EU Human Rights Dialogue
The EU and the African Union have maintained a Human Rights Dialogue since 2008. The
latter allows the two institutions to update each other on regional initiatives, to discuss
sensitive issues and to identify joint activities in certain areas. The dialogue is backed by a
series of meetings in which European and African experts discuss issues of common
concern—such as racism, rights of migrants, freedom of expression or freedom of
association—in order to better promote specific human rights at the regional and global
level.
The last AU-EU Human Rights Dialogue took place in November 2012, in Addis Ababa, and
focused on issues of common concern including racism; the right to development; death
penalty; rights of migrants; and the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights. The Dialogue was also forward looking and identified themes
to intensity our cooperation namely violence against women and freedom of association.
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5. The Africa-EU High Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation
Following the Africa-EU Summit conclusions in 2010, a policy dialogue was set up with the
view to enhance cooperation in the area of science, technology and innovation. Research
and Innovation has been an important pillar of the Joint EU-Africa Strategy. Indeed,
today, Africa ranks first among third regions in terms of participation in the EU Seventh
Framework Programme for Research. There are around 1000 African participants, in
around 400 projects on challenges of common concern such as food security, climate
change or renewable energy with an EU contribution of around €140 million. Another
example is the €15 million support to the African Union Research Grants Programme, that
brings together researchers from all over the continent.
The way forward
Since the adoption of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the EU has mainstreamed the new
priorities in its various aid and cooperation instruments.
The Commission proposed to make €1 billion available for a Pan-African Programme (PAP)
as part of the Instrument for Development Cooperation. Discussions are on-going in
Council and Parliament as part of the negotiations on the EU budget 2014-2020. The PAP
will support the implementation of the Strategic Partnership by providing assistance to
cross-regional and continental programmes and thus further enable the EU to treat Africa
as one.
Under the current financial perspectives 2008-2013, the European Development Fund
(€22.7 billion) is the main instrument for cooperation with Sub-Saharan African countries.
The European Development Fund supports the cooperation at national, regional and intra-
ACP levels. The national and regional programming for Africa for 2008-2013 amounts to
€13.9 billion.
Africa is also covered by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI)
for the Northern African countries, the relevant geographic and thematic part of the
Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI), and by worldwide thematic instruments such
as the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
The next Africa-EU Summit is expected to take place in 2014 in Brussels. Efforts are being
made to speed up the implementation of the current Action Plan and to deliver more
tangible results for the citizens of both continents.
Why is Africa a development priority for the EU?
• A large majority of least developed countries, as identified by the UN, (34 out of 49)
are in Africa.
• Three out of every four Africans live in poverty, while there are powerful development
opportunities to be seized in Africa.
• Most donors, apart from the EC, support a limited number of better performing states;
the EC believes aid should go where it is most needed and therefore also supports the
poorest countries and fragile states.
• Even if Africa is expanding its economic relations with other continents, the EU remains
Africa's top trading partner; while Africa accounts for 9% of EU27 trade, with France, Italy
and Germany accounting for more than half of all EU27 trade with Africa. European
Commission President José Manuel Barroso underlined however that the EU remains the
globe's top provider of "aid for trade".
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6. • Africa is the continent that suffers the most from the effects of climate change and
where energy poverty is highest. Nevertheless, it has enormous potential to spark a
"renewable energy revolution" and lift almost 600 million Africans out of energy poverty.
• The current economic recession can have even greater consequences for Africa than it
has on Europe. People may not only lose jobs and houses, but may pull their children out
of school and have less money for food and health.
• Steady economic growth and improvements in poverty reduction in Africa have a
positive impact on progress on the Millennium Development Goals; particularly in
increasing access to primary education and decreasing HIV/AIDS prevalence.
African countries and the European Union have concluded a number of agreements that
link them together in partnership.
How does the EU make a difference in Africa?
Examples:
• Better access to food for millions of Africans: The EU is the world's largest donor on
food security. The EU plays a leading role in tackling hunger and malnutrition and
supports the G8 alliance on food and nutrition. Agriculture is one of the priorities
that future EU aid will focus on. Since 2006, the Commission has committed €1
billion every year to strengthen food security and agricultural development across
the world.
• Affordable and more reliable access to water and energy services for millions of
Africans: Under the Water Facility, 14.5 million people are expected to gain access
to safe water, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa Of these, 3.5 million will also
benefit from access to improved sanitation and 10.5 million will receive hygiene
education.
• The Energy Facility will provide 2.5 million people in Africa with access to electricity
from renewable sources (wind, solar, hydro and biomass). It should also enable up
to 7 million people to connect to the energy grid.
• Increasing the availability and quality of health services in Africa: The EU supports
the health related Millennium Development Goals by improving health systems of
partner countries. It also supports partnerships which eradicate poverty-related
diseases and improve health such as the Global Alliance on Vaccines and
Immunisation and the Global Fund to fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria. The EU has channelled more than €922 million through the Global Fund so
far, which has prevented 5.4 million premature deaths through vaccination. This
has been complemented by other specific support - totalling €250 million over the
last decade.
• The European Commission has contributed to immunisation against measles for
more than 5 million children. Its support also resulted in more than 10 million
consultations on reproductive health and more than 4 million births attended by
health personnel since 2004. In the future, the EU will dedicate at least 20% of its
aid to human development (including health).
• Preferential or free access to the EU for African goods under a number of
agreements concluded in partnership (Cotonou Agreement/Economic Partnership
Agreements, Generalised System of Preferences/Everything But Arms, bilateral
agreements with North African countries).
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7. • The European Commission is spending an average of €500 million a year on
humanitarian assistance to the millions of Africans affected by disasters, conflicts
and protracted emergencies. Furthermore, it is focusing on strengthening the
resilience of the most vulnerable populations to the future crises, thus saving lives
and contributing to poverty reduction.
EU Funding and donor ranking
Under the 10th European Development Fund (2008–2013) the EU has already committed
approximately €12 billion for African countries.
The EU remains the most important donor for Africa. African countries received close to
€24 billion of Official Development Aid (ODA) from the EU for the period 2007–2012.
Other top donors to Africa are the USA and the World Bank.
Europeans place a particularly high priority on Africa within their development agenda as
demonstrated by the share of aid to Africa as part of their total aid budget. The top 10
donors by share of aid to Africa include only European countries, topped by Ireland (with
81% of its total aid to Africa) and followed by Belgium (77%), Portugal (73%) and France
(63%).
For more information
http://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/
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