AFRICA EUROPE DAYS - Transforming debate into action

History has taught us that major crises create opportunities and platforms for accelerating social, economic and political change. Changing global dynamics – from the climate crisis to recovery from the 2020 Corona pandemic – have exposed the lack of resilience in the fundamentals of life (water, food, health, energy) and the urgency to reimagine our common future as Africa and Europe. It is time to build a new foundation for Africa-Europe relations.

“Africa Europe Days”, from 2nd to 9th December 2020, represent an inspiring programme of virtual dialogues and an innovative platform of platforms to move debate into action and speed up the impact and reach of the Africa-Europe partnership. The week-long programme, curated by Friends of Europe and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation together with a consortium of partners, will feature:

• Launch of the Africa Europe Foundation Strategy Groups and multi-stakeholder platforms on Digital, Agriculture, Energy, Transport and Connectivity, plus Health.
• Global policy debates with representatives of the development community to share ideas and experiences that inspire innovative solutions and leverage joint partnership action.
• Launch of the pioneering “High-Level Report on the Africa Europe Climate Alliance” and meeting of the High-Level Group of Personalities on Africa-Europe Relations (HLG).

The “Africa Europe Days” is timed to take place on the eve of an Africa-EU Leaders’ Meeting with Heads of State (9 December) and in the lead-up to what will be a landmark year for Africa-Europe relations (6th Summit between the African Union and the EU, Africa-EU partnership in multilateral fora including COP-26, the UN Summit on Food Systems, UN high-level dialogue on Sustainable Energy, Global Health Summit).

Moving from “Debate into Action”

In the run-up to the week-long programme, many hundreds of practitioners and leaders from civil society and the youth sector as well as business and politics from across Africa and Europe have participated in shaping the agenda through the following the series of “Debating Africa EU” virtual dialogues:

• 19 November “Sustainable jobs & growth: a partnership for a new era”
• 1 October “Beyond borders: migration, mobility and good governance in the Africa-EU partnership”
• 24 September “Health, welfare and prosperity: an EU-Africa partnership for a people-centred approach to human development”
• 17 September “A new era of digital cooperation: embracing Africa and Europe’s 4th Industrial Revolution”
• 10 September “Creating a mutually beneficial partnership for Africa-Europe: Building a greener and fairer future”
• 30 June “The Next Generation of Africa Europe Relations”

An outline of the “Africa Europe Days” programme from 2 to 9 December 2020 including the in-focus days and the cross-cutting, transversal themes.

The programme is bookended by the meeting of the High-Level Group of Personalities on Africa- Europe Relations (Wednesday 2nd December) and the launch of the HLG Report on an Africa Europe Climate Alliance and the EU-Africa Leaders’ Meeting (Wednesday 9th December).

Related content:

• Africa Europe Foundation
• About the EU-Africa High-Level Group
• 4th High Level Group Meeting – Forging an Africa-Europe Climate Alliance: green transition, sustainable energy and agriculture