December 20, 2010
Posted: 11:26 AM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on December 20, 2010
Relations between the European Union and its partners in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) are in a parlous state. Past readers of ECDPM’s annual Challenges Paper know that we regularly refer to ACP-EU relations as being at a critical juncture, and this is certainly true at the start of 2011. The EU’s credibility in much of the ACP is at an all-time low, and in the EU many seem to have lost faith in the future of the partnership with the ACP. Moreover, there is a collective failure to recognise that in the ...
December 20, 2010
Posted: 11:25 AM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on December 20, 2010
The relationship between African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) is at a crossroads. TNI has emphasised over the past months, that rebuilding trust between the ACP and the EU on the Economic Partnership Agreements requires a new political momentum. For its last issue of the year, ECDPM-ICTSD’s TNI has given the floor to those who hold the reins at the highest political level and includes exclusive interviews with the EU Commissioner for Trade, the Secretary-General of the ACP group and the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Also included ...
December 20, 2010
Posted: 11:22 AM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on December 20, 2010
The European Parliament welcomes the adoption of the EU-Africa Strategic Action Plan 2010-2013 and hopes that the lessons will be learned from the difficulties which arose during the implementation of the first Action Plan and that there will be greater involvement by ministerial bodies and parliaments in the strategy’s implementation. It regrets that there is no financing plan to accompany the Africa-EU joint strategy and calls for the European Development Fund to come under the EU budget so that there may be parliamentary oversight. Parliament considers that the adoption of the new US ‘Conflict Minerals’ ...
December 20, 2010
Posted: 11:22 AM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on December 20, 2010
In January 2011, the Conference of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union will meet in Addis Ababa. The focus will be on identifying obstacles and measures to be adopted to facilitate continental integration based on shared values. It will offer the possibility of an analytical and critical assessment of the implementation of the various African initiatives for an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa. It will also contribute to a proactive and inclusive reflection on the ways and means for an emerging, well governed, integrated Africa free of violence and insecurity. Many preparatory ...
December 20, 2010
Posted: 11:21 AM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on December 20, 2010
In this extensive speech to the European American Press Club, President of the African Development Bank, Donald Kaberuka, argues that there is a new dynamic in Africa and that now is the time to look closely at the opportunities the continent of Africa offers in the process of stimulating the global economy. He addresses a series of pertinent questions relating to Africa’s economic growth: What are the drivers? Is this about Commodities and the “Asian Pull”? Is it another false dawn? Can it be sustained? What is the role of external aid? He also outlines ...
November 26, 2010
Posted: 13:02 PM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on November 26, 2010
In time for next week’s Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli, the Africa-EU Platform for Dialogue on Governance and Human Rights was launched on 12 November in Brussels. ECDPM and its partner, the Dakar-based African Governance Institute (AGI) were involved as facilitators in this process. This Platform is the culmination of the extensive work over the last two years that has taken place within the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), which was adopted at the first Africa-EU Summit in Lisbon in December 2007, and specifically it’s Partnership on Democratic Governance and Human Rights. The Platform provides an open, ...
November 26, 2010
Posted: 12:57 PM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on November 26, 2010
Chatham House hosted a conference entitled “Ensuring Peace and Security in Africa: Implementing the New Africa-EU Partnership” on 27-28 October. The conference discussed the motivations and objectives of cooperation between the EU and Africa on peace and security, took stock of progress made over the past couple of years and analysed and drew lessons from case studies. ECDPM’s Eleonora Koeb gave a presentation to the meeting highlighting some successes and progress made by the African Union in the areas of conflict prevention, mediation and development of an African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). Stressing that ...
November 26, 2010
Posted: 12:49 PM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on November 26, 2010
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), signed in December 2007, was designed as a ‘people-centred partnership’ that aims at providing ‘a permanent platform for information, participation and mobilisation of a broad spectrum of civil society actors in the EU, Africa and beyond’. It calls for the creation of an ‘appropriate and prominent place’ for non-state actors. Civil society in the European Union and in Africa have progressively organized themselves with the aim of allowing citizens’ participation in the dialogue between the two continents. The first Africa–EU Civil Society Intercontinental Dialogue Forum was held in Cairo on ...
November 26, 2010
Posted: 12:43 PM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on November 26, 2010
Ahead of the Africa-EU Summit that will be held in Tripoli on 29-30 November, this high-level event organized by EARN, ECDPM and okra eXpress in Brussels on 16 November provided a timely opportunity to discuss the Joint Africa-EU Strategy’s (JAES) main achievements as well as the difficulties encountered in strengthening the political partnership and in enhancing cooperation between the two continents. It also gathered views of African and European officials and other actors on what they see as the main priorities and expectations for the summit and the main challenges to the future of their ...
November 15, 2010
Posted: 14:53 PM UTC
by ECDPM Editorial Team on November 15, 2010
Beyond Development Aid: EU-Africa Political Dialogue on Global Issues of Common Concern is a new publication of the Europe-Africa Policy Research Network (EARN) that ECDPM is a member of. It includes analysis and articles on the main constrains and opportunities for engaging in a more strategic dialogue and partnership between the EU and Africa on Global Issues of Common Concern. It focuses on what have been the outcomes of the political dialogue between the two continents in the period between Summits (2008-2010) and discusses relevant issues that impact upon both regions and on their partnership, ...
