The European Commission has set out its ambitions for a comprehensive and innovative partnership between Africa and the EU called the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investments and Jobs. This includes a renewed determination to boost investment for job creation and to strengthen the role of the private sector.
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The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the key priorities of Africa´s Agenda 2063 and a flagship project for the continent. Signed by 49 African countries and ratified by 13 countries so far, it needs 22 more ratifications to enter into force. In September 2018, Commission President Juncker had announced in his State of the Union address that the EU would allocate €50 million of support for the period 2018-2020.
At the Africa‑Europe High‑Level Forum in Vienna today (18/12/2018) the European Investment Bank formally agreed a total of EUR 495 million of new financing for three projects to support sustainable transport, clean energy and internet access projects in North, West and East Africa.
Professor the Hon. Robert Dussey, ACP Chief Negotiator and Stefano Manservisi, EC Director-General briefed the media in Brussels on the outcome of the meeting of the ACP EU Negotiators held on Friday 14 December 2018 at ACP House.
On 18 December 2018, at the invitation of the Chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, the High-Level Forum Africa-Europe was held in Vienna to discuss “Taking cooperation to the digital age”. More than fifty official delegations from member states of the African Union and the European Union took part in the Forum along with almost a thousand innovators and start‑ups from Africa and Europe, as well as established companies.
The first series of talks between the EU and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) led to broad convergence on the structure of the future agreement and the strategic priorities.
Juncker urged European firms on Tuesday to boost their investments in Africa in a "partnership among equals," reminding the joint European Union and Africa Union forum that Africa's population was forecast to double to 2.5 billion by 2050.
On an official visit to Ethiopia, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides has announced today €89 million in humanitarian support for 2018-2019 whilst visiting EU aid projects in the Somali region in Eastern Ethiopia where many people have fled their homes due to internal conflict.
Only three months after the launch of the Africa–Europe Alliance, the European Commission is presenting first progress on boosting investment and creating jobs in Africa.* At the High-Level Forum Africa-Europe today in Vienna, hosted jointly by the Austrian Presidency of the EU, notably by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, and Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and the Chairman of the African Union for 2018, President Jean-Claude Juncker reiterated Europe's ambition for a true and fair partnership among equals between Africa and Europe.