# EUR-Lex - 52008DC0617 - EN

Important legal notice

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# 52008DC0617

**Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - One year after Lisbon: the Africa-EU partnership at work {SEC(2008) 2603} /* COM/2008/0617 final */ **

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[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 17.10.2008

COM (2008) 617 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

One year after Lisbon: The Africa-EU partnership at work

{SEC(2008) 2603}

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

One year after Lisbon: The Africa-EU partnership at work

INTRODUCTION

At their second Summit in Lisbon in December 2007, the EU and African Heads of State and Government adopted a Joint Africa-EU Strategy – an ambitious long-term policy framework that confirmed their willingness to deepen their political relationship and to address global challenges together. This policy document, which marks a fundamental break with the past and provides a comprehensive framework for Africa-EU relations, was complemented by an Action Plan for 2008-10, bringing concrete substance to the policies outlined in the Joint Strategy. Consisting of 8 sectoral partnerships, the Action Plan is the main operational agenda for Africa-EU cooperation until the next Summit, which will be held in Africa in 2010. The Joint Strategy and the Africa-related activities of the European Neighbourhood Policy will be mutually complementary and reinforcing, both contributing to strengthen Africa-EU relations.

Leaders also made it clear that 2008 should be a year of implementation and visible progress. They agreed that the European Commission, the Secretariat of the Council and the African Union Commission (AUC) would each year submit a progress report on the implementation of the Joint Strategy and the Action Plan. Underlining its political commitment to the process, the European Commission also decided to prepare this Communication on progress and the challenges ahead.

The purpose of this Communication is threefold: (1) to assess progress made during the first year of implementation; (2) to outline the main challenges ahead, thus serving as a basis for discussion among all stakeholders – EU Member States and institutions, African countries and institutions, parliaments, civil society and international partners , and (3) to provide input for the joint progress report for the Ministerial Troika meeting of November 2008. The Communication provides an overview of initial progress made on the overall political objectives of the Joint Strategy and the implementation of the 8 partnerships. A forward-looking concluding section outlines the key recommendations on how to move forward, better and faster.

THE JOINT STRATEGY – POLITICAL DIRECTIONS AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The Joint Strategy and the Action Plan set out the main principles, objectives and components of the new Africa-EU strategic partnership, and place the relationship on a more mature and more equal footing by taking dialogue and cooperation “beyond development”, “beyond Africa” and “beyond institutions”. Almost one year on, initial progress has been made:

- “Beyond development”: Africa remains high on the EU's foreign policy agenda, with dialogue increasingly going beyond the confines of traditional development issues, agencies and officials. The intensification of high-level contacts, in particular in the area of peace and security, as exemplified by the Troika meetings of the EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) and the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) in October and of Africa-EU Defence Ministers in November 2008, underlines this broadening interest. However, Africa is still too frequently thought of and addressed as a "development issue", and more needs to be done to mobilise political engagement and financial resources from stakeholders outside the development community.

- “Beyond Africa": Here too, the first results are encouraging but uneven. While the EU and Africa are increasingly discussing and cooperating on global issues such as peace and security, or climate change, energy and food security, the focus of the discussion often remains limited to Africa – the impact of climate change on Africa , energy and food security in Africa etc. Both sides also need to do more to step up cooperation in the UN, in other international fora, and in multilateral negotiations on key issues like trade, human rights or climate change. They should also identify common ground and work together on regional and global political issues.

- "Beyond institutions": One of the main innovations of this people-centred partnership is the involvement of a wide spectrum of non-traditional actors from civil society, the private sector and academia. While there is genuine interest to seriously engage, both sides should work harder to identify financial means and develop practical working arrangements to enable the active involvement and interaction of non-institutional actors.

The Ministerial Troika of 16 September 2008 adopted the first implementation report on the Joint Strategy and the Action Plan, welcomed the progress made, and endorsed a series of concrete recommendations on the way ahead. On the EU side, the working arrangements agreed in Lisbon have been strengthened through a series of additional measures. The task of implementing the thematic Africa-EU partnerships has been given to 8 EU Implementation Teams (ITs) consisting of particularly committed Member States, the Commission and the Council Secretariat, under the overall coordination of the Council's Africa Working Group. As regards financial aspects, EU Member States are invited to contribute to the funding of the activities foreseen, while the European Commission will translate its financial commitments to support the Joint Strategy and Action Plan by optimizing the use of funding sources and instruments available under the EC Budget under the current Multi-annual Financial Framework and the EDF.

On the African side, the AUC has remained the focal point. While several African countries and organisations have signalled interest in the process, additional actors and counterparts for the EU ITs should be rapidly mobilised to implement and coordinate the partnerships – these “locomotives” could include beyond the AUC the regional economic communities (RECs) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), as well as individual countries.

Initial efforts have also been made to open up the process to international partners, including the World Bank, the UN system and G-8 countries. This work should now move beyond policy dialogue to concrete cooperation at the level of each partnership.

Finally, 2008 has seen a considerable strengthening of contacts between EU institutions and their AU counterparts. The establishment of a new 'double-hatted' EU Delegation to the AU in Addis Ababa, the ever-intensifying Commission-to-Commission dialogue and cooperation agenda, as well as the budding partnership between the European and Pan-African Parliaments are cases in point.

Communication and language are fundamental building blocks in the democratic and participatory process of citizens, for which well-functioning cooperation and services of the EU and AU in the area of information, communication and language are essential.

This contributes to another overarching objective, namely to support Africa's political and economic integration, and to strengthen the AU and its Commission as effective partner institutions in Africa.

THE PARTNERSHIPS

On the EU side, the proactive engagement of Member States, the Commission and other European institutions and stakeholders has been instrumental for making early progress in the 8 partnerships, in line with international commitments on greater aid efficiency, policy coherence for development and division of labour and the mainstreaming of issues such as gender equality. The following sections highlight progress made so far and the way forward in terms of priority actions. The Commission Staff Working Document annexed to this Communication provides a more comprehensive overview of the achievements and priority deliverables under the 8 thematic partnerships.

Africa-EU Partnership on Peace and Security

Peace and security remain among the top priorities for Africa-EU co-operation. The main focus of this Partnership is the interconnection between policy, operational objectives and funding. A reinforced dialogue on peace and security challenges in Africa, Europe and globally must be matched by African leaders' political will, underpinned by the capacity to respond to challenges on the continent and beyond. The Joint Strategy, in turn, acknowledges that Africa cannot be left alone to bear the burdens of peace support operations (PSOs).

This year, political and technical discussions have addressed major political crises in Africa, such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mauritania, peace support dialogues and measures for Somalia, the crisis in Darfur, the AU-led PSO in the Central African Republic and the EU's military ESDP mission in Chad. Specific efforts have also been devoted to improve financial and technical support for the AU's capacity to plan, conduct and manage PSOs which require further strengthening. In this context, good progress is being made on preparing the second African Peace Facility, with an allocation of €300 million for the period 2008-10, and with a more comprehensive approach going beyond PSOs and capacity building and including conflict prevention and post-conflict stabilization.

The EU IT has begun to identify specific deliverables, to be as soon as possible discussed with African partners. These include, inter alia , reinforcement of the African Standby Force through dedicated military and civilian training, increased early warning capacity, and enhanced co-operation to combat terrorism as well as the illicit trafficking of firearms. Financial and technical support is being given for the necessary strengthening of the AU's capacity to plan, conduct and manage PSOs. Discussions on sustainable and predictable funding for African–led PSOs will soon start within the UN framework. Six "lead actors" have been designated to co-lead the Partnership's three priority areas.

Africa-EU Partnership on Democratic Governance and Human Rights

This Partnership aims at developing a common understanding of democratic governance and at promoting and consolidating a shared human rights agenda, confirming the commitment to work together to protect and promote the human rights of all people in Africa and Europe. It also includes strengthening cooperation on culture.

Africa-EU dialogue and cooperation on democratic governance and human rights has been going on for many years within the framework of the EU's external action, development and neighbourhood policies and instruments. Maximising synergies with key ongoing processes will facilitate supporting governance reforms and ensuring effective protection and promotion of human rights and freedoms.

Consolidating democratic governance in ACP countries through dialogue and incentives is the main objective of the Governance Incentive Tranche process, by which €2.7 billion has been allocated to those countries that put forward Governance Action Plans. The EU and the AU will work together to support African countries' efforts to build their own democratic systems and implement national plans of reform, but also to encourage political will where democratic processes have been interrupted or delayed.

The AU and the EU have launched debates on local governance, which offer further opportunities for joint work. The EU will invite the AU to jointly follow up on these reflections, particularly after the European Development Days in Strasbourg in November 2008, which will focus on these issues. Joint work on the role and pluralism of media is equally envisaged.

This Partnership should also facilitate implementing the conclusions of the AU/EU Human Rights Dialogue. The EU will invite the AU to jointly identify issues for cooperation in international fora and to consider joint initiatives. Civil society organisations from Africa and the EU will be invited to engage in parallel discussions and to feed into this dialogue.

This Partnership will contribute to consolidating the Pan-African governance and human rights architecture. The AU and the EU Commissions will assess the results of ongoing capacity development support with a view to jointly setting priorities for enhanced cooperation in this area. Specific attention will be given to consolidate African electoral assistance and observation capacities, and to address the management of post-electoral crises.

An inventory of activities in the area of cultural goods will begin in 2009 and serve as the basis for structuring priorities in this field.

Finally, to involve the widest possible range of actors and stakeholders, the AU and the EU will launch in 2009 a “Platform for dialogue on democratic governance and human rights”.

Africa-EU Partnership on Trade and Regional Integration

The main objective of this Partnership is to support the socio-economic and political integration of Africa, to accelerate the creation of larger and regionally-integrated markets and to improve and sustain African infrastructure and services. The removal of internal customs barriers within Africa, as well as enhanced capacity of administrations, producers and exporters at all levels to meet the regulatory requirements of their export markets, are crucial in this regard. The recent Communication on regional integration for development in ACP countries[1] is the European Commission's contribution to this debate. The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) remain high on the agenda and, when concluded on a comprehensive regional basis, will be a cornerstone of EU support for African regional integration.

The harmonisation of laws, regulations, procedures, norms and standards across Africa could usefully be addressed at pan-African level as a complement to regional efforts. One possible key deliverable concerns sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS), in particular as regards human capacity-building and information-sharing on a continental basis. A high-level European Commission mission to Africa is expected in early 2009.

The Africa-EU Partnership on Infrastructure was launched in 2007, before the adoption of the Joint Strategy, and implementation began in 2008. It aims to substantially increase EU investment in African infrastructure, thereby contributing to the interconnectivity of Africa. It uses various financial instruments: NIPs/RIPs (10th EDF), which will support regional transport, energy and communications corridors, the Energy and Water Facilities, and the Infrastructure Trust Fund, which allows the blending of grants and loans. The Trust Fund has already received €108 million from the 9th EDF – more funds are expected under the 10th EDF – and €38 million from eleven EU Member States. The European Investment Bank and other donors have also announced loans to the Trust Fund in excess of €250 million. Finally, a €10 million support programme will help the AU Commission to formulate and promote policies and actions to respond to African infrastructure challenges.

Africa-EU Partnership on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

This Partnership should serve as a forum for intensified continent-to-continent policy dialogue, cooperation and joint actions with a view to achieving all MDGs in all African countries by 2015. It identifies four priority actions:

- Ensuring the finance and policy base for achieving the MDGs;

- Accelerating the achievement of MDG food security targets;

- Accelerating the achievement of MDG health targets;

- Accelerating the achievement of MDG education targets.

In June 2008, EU Heads of State and Government confirmed their commitments regarding increased official development assistance (ODA) targets for 2010 and 2015, and adopted an Agenda for Action on the MDGs. This sets out increased sectoral EU support and examples of EU actions to be carried out as part of its existing ODA commitments. It represents a collective European offer to developing partners and to the international community. While being global, the Agenda identifies Africa as a clear priority, and is consistent with the work of the Africa MDG Steering Group set up by the UN Secretary General (UNSG).

It is essential to identify where the work at continent-to-continent level brings added value to existing initiatives, bearing in mind the need to link work at Africa-EU level with activities at national, sub-regional and multilateral levels. At continental level, the EU Agenda for Action could be used as a policy tool to (1) raise awareness on the MDGs and stimulate Africa's identification of its own needs and priorities, (2) trigger improvement in monitoring MDG progress at continental level and (3) develop common Africa-EU positions on MDGs for major international meetings. At country level, the Agenda could be used as a tool for policy dialogue to: (1) where not yet available, set "nationalized" MDG milestones and targets adapted to country contexts and improve national data and monitoring systems, (2) promote better integration of the MDGs in national development strategies and (3) identify concrete actions and successful practices to accelerate progress on MDG targets.

Short-term deliverables on the finance and policy aspects should include joint identification of priority milestones and actions on the basis of the EU Agenda for Action and the recently adopted recommendations of the UNSG's MDGs Africa Steering Group. An early deliverable on food security would be joint work on reinforcing the link between the EC Food Security Thematic Programme, the proposed EU Food Facility, and the African Framework for Food Security outlined in the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (Pillar 3), in particular in the field of agricultural research, food security information systems, improved food security risk management and support to regional and continental farmers' organisations. There are opportunities for coherence with the EU Agenda for Action, as regards the strengthening of health and education financing, addressing the human resources crisis in the health sector as well as the considerable shortfall in numbers of trained teachers and in education quality.

Africa-EU Partnership on Energy

Energy is an area where Africa and Europe share important mutual interests and face similar challenges. The objective of this Partnership is threefold: strengthened Africa-EU dialogue on energy access and security, improved access to energy services, increased investment in infrastructure and promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

In September 2008, the European Commissioners for Energy and for Development undertook a joint mission to Africa focussing on energy issues. The visit to the AUC and three countries - Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burkina Faso – reflect both the energy diversity and potential in Africa. The regional aspects also featured high on the agenda of the visit, as interconnections will be crucial from an energy viewpoint, but also as a stabilising factor between countries of the various RECs.

During this visit an agreement was reached between the European Commission and the AUC on the main priorities and governance setup for the implementation of the Africa-EU Energy partnership and a "Joint Statement on the Implementation of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership" was signed. This Statement is the first formal sectoral agreement to follow up the Lisbon Summit, and was endorsed during the European Commission-AU Commission College-to-College meeting on 1 October 2008 in Brussels.

The governance set-up of the partnership is complete: the EU IT has met several times, the African Core Group has been established, and on 15-16 October 2008 the first meeting of the Informal Joint Expert Group will take place in Addis Ababa. Furthermore, the first High-Level Africa-EU Meeting on Energy is now agreed to take place in 2009, back to back with the Energy Partnership Forum which will include civil society and the private sector.

The priorities agreed in the Joint Statement are: regional integration and upgrading of energy infrastructure, the promotion of an enabling environment for private sector investment, improving access to energy services, exploring Africa's renewable energy potential in a sustainable way, improving energy efficiency and reducing waste. On this basis, the Informal Joint Expert Group on Energy will establish a roadmap for the implementation of the above priorities. Bilateral energy dialogue with specific African countries or regions is underway.

In 2008, several energy projects in support to the implementation of this Partnership have been or will be contracted under the existing financial instruments and thematic programmes, including the Energy Facility, Africa-EU Infrastructure Partnership and its Trust Fund, bilateral and regional EDF programmes, Environment, sustainable management of natural resources including energy - ENRTP programme.

Africa-EU Partnership on Climate Change

This Partnership includes 2 interlinked priority actions: (1) building a common agenda on climate change policies and cooperation, and (2) addressing land degradation and increasing aridity.

The first Priority Action focuses on African countries targeted by the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA)[2] as a framework to enhance AU-EU political dialogue and cooperation. This provides a privileged channel to develop a shared Africa-EU vision on climate change and adaptation. The African Climate Information for Development in Africa (ClimDev Africa) concept is the second leg of this priority action[3]. ClimDev is closely linked to disaster risk reduction, one of the GCCA priority areas. First deliverables should include a joint political Africa-EU declaration on climate change and the GCCA[4], in preparation for the Poznan Conference on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2008 (where an overall EU-Least Developed Countries and Small Islands Developing States Declaration will be tabled) and on the basis of African "climate" priorities.[5]

The second Priority Action is the fight against land degradation in Africa. Here, the Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative is a flagship that could join up continental, national and local African efforts and institutions working on sustainable land management. The Partnership will support activities such as capacity-building, mainstreaming of sustainable land and water management, local community development and empowerment, and natural resource management at local level. Early deliverables include the completion of the initial institutional scoping study in early 2009 and the adoption of the Plan of Action by the AU Commission in January 2009.

For both actions, there is a need to identify a core group of stakeholders capable of driving the process and the mapping exercise started at EU level will be instrumental in this respect.

In addition, the European Commission and the AU are pursuing their wider dialogue on the environment, encompassing the implementation of Multilateral Environment Agreements, disaster risk reduction, integration of environment in development and coordination with various relevant pan-African partners (AUC, NEPAD, AMCEN, UNEP).

Africa-EU Partnership on Migration, Mobility and Employment

This Partnership builds upon the Africa-EU Declaration of Tripoli, the Africa-EU Plan of Action on trafficking of human beings and the Ouagadougou Declaration and Action Plan on Employment and Poverty Alleviation. The Partnership will provide holistic responses related to migration, mobility and employment, both within and between the 2 continents, with the objective of creating more and better jobs in Africa, advancing the Decent Work agenda, and better managing migration flows.

The African side has launched its consultation with the RECs on migration. The Euro-African high level dialogue on the Western African migratory route is moving forward with the organisation of a Ministerial conference in Paris on migration and development in November 2008.

Reliable data and analysis are crucial for the definition and implementation of appropriate policies. The European Commission will further support the establishment of a network of Migration Observatories in Sub-Saharan Africa. Establishing a structured dialogue with the African Diaspora and supporting its role in Africa's development is a shared priority for the EU and the AU, the latter considering the African Diaspora as its "sixth region". This is resulting in the forthcoming organisation of the first African Diaspora Summit as well as various initiatives on the European side to strengthen its dialogue with the African Diaspora. Acknowledging the increasing importance of remittances in many African countries, the European Commission will support the establishment of an African Remittances Institute in 2009, under the leadership of the AU Commission and in collaboration with the World Bank.

Ongoing cooperation with African partners also includes promoting regional dialogue and cooperation on fighting illegal immigration, smuggling of migrants and trafficking of human beings. One innovative approach concretely linking migration, mobility, employment and vocational training, inspired by earlier initiatives in Morocco and Tunisia, is the European Community's support for the Migration Information and Management Centre in Mali (CIGEM). There is already an African interest in replicating such experiences. The Erasmus Mundus, Tempus and Nyerere programmes provide opportunities for a greater mobility of qualified African students in Africa and Europe. Additionally, the Youth in Action Programme supports Euro-African mobility among young people.

Africa-EU Partnership on Science, Information Society and Space

This partnership will contribute to the bridging of the digital and scientific divides, to the strengthening of African capacities in the areas of Science, ICTs and Space technology and applications, and to enhancing their use as key enablers for poverty reduction, growth and socio-economic development. The Partnership will provide support for Africa's S&T Consolidated Plan of Action (CPA) and the African Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE).

The Partnership represents an excellent opportunity to foster S&T and Information Society in EU development aid and in the wider Africa-EU partnership. There is now a need for both early policy deliverables and a common long-term view.

The AUC has proposed 19 Lighthouse Projects for implementation under this Partnership: 12 on S&T, 5 on Information Society and 2 on Space. Out of these, six – two for each priority action – are considered as urgent and mature for early implementation. The relevant Commissioners of the AU Commission and European Commission established in a Joint Statement on 1st October 2008 that these projects should be the basis for the further implementation of this Partnership.

Concerning the "Space" dimension, the EU and AU have agreed to cooperate on the EU initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, now called KOPERNIKUS, as part of the EU-AU partnership. Work is being carried out to draft a joint action plan. The aim is to submit the action plan to the next Africa-EU Summit in Libya in 2010. This process was launched during the informal AU Commission-European Commission meeting on GMES in Africa, held in Accra (Ghana) on 4-6 October 2008. In parallel, the AUC and the European Commission are exploring ways to optimize the use of geospatial science for sustainable development, focusing on natural resources, food security, crisis management and renewable energies through the set-up of an ad hoc system in Addis Ababa, based on current practices of the EC's Joint Research Centre.

CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD

At the Lisbon Summit in December 2007, EU and African leaders stressed the importance of early progress and concrete deliverables in implementing the Joint Strategy and its Action Plan. 2008 has been a significant year in Africa-EU relations: long-standing cooperation has been further strengthened and important new policy initiatives have been launched. The basis for the long-term success of the Strategy – an innovative policy approach and effective working arrangements – is in place. Both sides have already started to implement the ambitious operational agenda of the thematic partnerships. The initial progress needs to be accelerated, broadened and consolidated. The Troika of 16 September 2008 rightly underlined that both sides now need to intensify efforts so that this partnership delivers all expected results.

An important next step is the establishment of the Joint Expert Groups which will implement and coordinate the 8 partnerships. This requires effective working arrangements on the African side, including a clear definition of the respective contributions, roles and responsibilities of African countries, the AUC and other pan-African bodies, the RECs and other relevant stakeholders. Parliaments, civil societies, the private sector, multilateral organisations and committed international partners need to engage in the implementation process. Last, but not least, both sides should promote greater policy coherence and complementarity between the thematic partnerships, and step up their communication and information sharing efforts, so that stakeholders, interested citizens, journalists and researchers can monitor the progress and results of this partnership.

Taking account also of the discussions during the European Commission and the AUC at their College-to-College meeting on 1 October 2008, the European Commission has therefore identified recommendations for the way ahead, focusing on key issues to be urgently addressed:

1. The partnership relies on collective efforts. Therefore, members of the Implementation Teams on both sides need to underpin their political commitment to the process with concrete contributions , including human and financial resources and technical expertise – in Brussels, Addis Ababa, and at national level.

2. The EU Implementation Teams should finalize the comprehensive mappings of cooperation initiatives and available resources, and develop an implementation roadmap including priorities and early deliverables. The African side should promote African ownership of the Joint Strategy and proactive involvement in its implementation, and should speedily set up effective internal working arrangements. Experts from both sides should then jointly kick-start the implementation of the Action Plan, including agreed priority projects, before the next Ministerial Troika in November 2008.

3. Before November 2008, first consultative discussions should be held with key non-institutional actors , including civil society, academia and the private sector, to enable them to play an active role in the implementation and monitoring of the Joint Strategy.

4. Both sides should pursue efforts to "treat Africa as one" and to gradually adapt relevant policies and legal and financial frameworks to the needs and objectives of the partnership with a view to foster continent-wide projects as well as cooperation between Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, institutional setups such as the Africa-related working arrangements of the Council, should be further rationalized to reflect this principle.

5. The Joint Strategy and its Action Plan were adopted by the Heads of State and Government, and must be collectively owned as whole-of-government commitments. Coordination should be improved to reflect the Joint Strategy as a cross-cutting priority for all ministries and departments, in political as well as in financial terms.

6. European and African actors should integrate the principles, objectives and priorities of the Joint Strategy into the programming of financial and technical cooperation , as well as into their political dialogue and meetings with third parties.

7. European and African actors should also live up to their commitments to enhance contacts, coordination and cooperation in UN and other international bodies and multilateral negotiations, and set up efficient consultative and coordination structures.

8. The EU should reaffirm its political and financial commitments to Africa . Despite the current difficult economic situation, the EU needs to provide half of its pledged additional ODA for 2010 and 2015 to Africa.

9. The African side, too, needs to provide the necessary leadership in, and responsibility for, the effective delivery of its commitments and pledged contributions to the implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan.

10. Organize a structured dialogue with the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament , including regular hearings on the progress of the Strategic Partnership.

Finally, as an overarching common element that should be integrated in all the 8 partnerships, more emphasis should be placed on communication – a successful and people-centred partnership requires transparency on both the achievements and challenges of the process. Process and progress should be presented in simple and accessible language on paper, through television and radio, and online.

[1] COM(2008)xxx, 01.10.2008

[2] The European Commission launched in September 2007 the Global Climate Change Alliance initiative between the European Union and developing countries which will be hit hardest by the impact of climate change, in particular Least Developed Countries (LDC) and Small Island Developing States. COM(2007)540, 18.9.2007; Council Conclusions 15103/07; SEC(2008) 2319, 15.7.2008.

[3] A joint initiative between the Global Climate Observing System, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the AUC, aiming at improving the availability of climate data in Africa for decision makers.

[4] Possibly at the Africa-EU Ministerial Troika meeting scheduled for November 2008.

[5] Cf inter alia the results of the June 2008 Conference of African Ministers of the Environment (AMCEN).