Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - The EU, Africa and China: Towards trilateral dialogue and cooperation {SEC(2008)2641}
Date: 2008-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Africa, China, EU relations, cooperation policy, development policy, environmental policy

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 17.10.2008 
COM(2008)654 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

The EU, Africa and China: Towards trilateral dialogue and cooperation 

{SEC(2008)2641}  

(presented by the Commission) 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

The EU, Africa and China: Towards trilateral dialogue and cooperation  

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

2.1. 

2.2. 

2.3. 

3. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

The EU policy initiative on trilateral cooperation........................................................ 5 

Guiding principles for trilateral cooperation................................................................ 5 

Concrete objectives of trilateral cooperation ............................................................... 5 

Development policy dialogue and development partnership ....................................... 6 

Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 7 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

At the dawn of the 21st century the new geopolitics present challenges and opportunities for 
all  players. Nowhere  is  this  truer  than  in  Africa  which  is  entering  a  new  era.  Africa  is 
emerging,  more  democratic,  more  vibrant,  and  positioning  herself  better to  benefit  from  the 
opportunities of globalisation.  

The  birth  of  the  African  Union  (AU),  the  reinforced  role  of  Africa’s  Regional  Economic 
Communities  (RECs),  the  African  blueprints  for  economic  development  (NEPAD  -  New 
Partnership  for  Africa's  Development)  and  for  democratic  governance  (the  African  Peer 
Review  Mechanism)  together  with  the  Strategic  Plan  of  the  African  Union  (2004-2007) 
marked  a  fundamental  break  in  the  way  Africa  looks  at  itself  and  how  it  engages  with  its 
external partners. Africa is now determined to assert its international status and is becoming 
active  on  major  global  issues  like  food  security,  energy  and  climate  change  and  changing 
economic environments.  

Africa  has  created  a  network  of  partnerships  which  imply  taking  more  responsibility  for  its 
own development, looking for African solutions to African problems. At the same time there 
is a renewed interest in the African continent because of its strategic significance in economic, 
security  and  political  terms.  This  provides  a  genuine  and  welcome  opportunity  for  Africa's 
development and its fight against poverty. 

The European Union and China are both long-standing partners of African countries. The EU 
and  China  are  respectively  the  first  and  the  third  commercial  partners  of,  and  investors  in, 
Africa.  They  have  in  recent  years  responded  to  Africa's  transformation  with  major  strategy 
reviews.  

Africa  and  the  EU  have  established  a  new  and  comprehensive  partnership  agreed  at  the 
second Africa-EU summit in Lisbon in December 20071. The Africa-EU Joint Strategy and its 
first  Action  Plan  agreed  in  Lisbon,  identify  common  challenges,  common  interests  and 
concrete  sector-based  partnerships  with  the  aim  to  eradicate  poverty,  reach  the  Millennium 
Development Goals and promote security, human rights, democratic governance, sustainable 
development, regional integration and integration into the world economy. In line with these 
objectives  and  principles,  the  EU,  collectively  the  largest  provider  of  Official  Development 
Assistance (ODA), has agreed to scale up its aid, in particular to Africa, and to make it more 
efficient2 and has undertaken to align its Africa policy on AU priorities ("ownership"). Untied 
grants and soft loans are the main financial tools.  

China has since the 1990s re-emerged as a global power and has engaged further with Africa. 
Since  2000  China-Africa  trade  has  steeply  increased,  Chinese  investments  in  Africa  have 
risen  sharply  and  China  has  been  offering  increased  development  cooperation  to  African 
countries. This includes its domestic experience with poverty reduction. The new approach to 
Africa was laid out in 2006 when China presented a White Paper on its Africa policy focusing 

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information: 

http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/Conferences/2007/December/eu-

For  more 
au/AU_EU.htm 
In its Communication "EU as a global partner for development", the Commission proposes a number of 
actions to encourage Member States to increase the volume and the effectiveness of aid as well as areas 
where EU policies could be better coordinated. 

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on  the  promotion  of  peace  and  stability,  development  and  common  prosperity 3 .  China's 
official development policy is to pursue cooperation with the focus on sovereignty, solidarity, 
peace  and  development  with  non-interference  in  domestic  affairs  and  mutual  benefit  as  key 
principles.  Trade,  investment,  turn-key  infrastructure  projects  and  training  in  China 
(fellowships) are the main tools supported mainly through loans and in-kind operations4.  

At the Beijing summit in November 2006, China and Africa sealed a new strategic partnership 
within the framework provided by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC5). Many 
observers  of  this  process  noted  a  number  of  shared  objectives  and  interests  in  promoting 
Africa's  economic  growth  and  integration  into  the  world  economy,  the  pursuit  of  the 
Millennium  Development  Goals  (MDG)  and  efforts 
to  conflict  management  and 
peacekeeping.  

Moreover,  both  the  EU  and  China  have  a  strong  shared  interest  in  promoting  stable  and 
sustainable development in Africa. This reality has been recognised by the EU and China: At 
the  tenth  China-EU  Summit  held  in  Beijing  on  28  November  2007,  the  EU  and  Chinese 
leaders  ‘welcomed  more  practical  cooperation  by  the  two  sides  through  their  respective 
existing  cooperation  mechanisms  with  Africa  so  as  to  contribute  to  Africa’s  peace,  stability 
and sustainable development on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. The two sides agreed 
to continue their dialogue on African issues, and actively explore effective ways and channels 
of cooperation among China, the EU and Africa in appropriate areas’. 

The Join Africa-EU Strategy explicitly welcomes contributions by other partners and is open 
to  cooperation  with  third  countries  on  the  common  objectives  of  the  partnership.  These 
statements  therefore  provide  an  explicit  opportunity  to  strategically  link  and  mutually 
strengthen the EU's partnerships with both Africa and China.  

The  question  is  whether  more  can  be  done  between  the  EU,  Africa  and  China  to  reinforce 
their  policy  dialogue  and  cooperation  through  forms  of  trilateral  cooperation 6  which 
complement the bilateral partnerships7. This Communication argues that we should begin on 
the basis of consensus to establish, in a gradual, but progressive way, a cooperative three way 
agenda with both our African and Chinese partners in a number of areas where synergies and 
mutual benefits can be maximised.  

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC (2006) ‘China’s African Policy’, January 2006. 
The exact amounts are difficult to determine, since the accounting methods are very different and China 
does  not  publish  aid  statistics  yet.  Besides  the  central  government's  programmes  there  are  a  large 
number of provincial and corporate actors that are weaving an increasingly dense and complex web of 
relations with Africa. 
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was inaugurated through a ministerial conference in 
Beijing in 2000. The third FOCAC was held at summit level in Beijing 3-5 November 2006. Details: 
http://english.focacsummit.org/ 
In line with paragraph 19b of the Accra Agenda for Action which encourages triangular cooperation.  
The more general impacts of China's rise were addressed in the 2006 Communication EU-China: Closer 
Partners, growing responsibilities. The present Communication focuses specifically on the EU response 
to  the  development  opportunities  and  challenges  arising  in  Africa  due  to  China's  emergence  as  a  key 
development partner of Africa.. 

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2. 

THE EU POLICY INITIATIVE ON TRILATERAL COOPERATION 

The Commission proposes that Africa, China and the EU should work together in a flexible 
and  pragmatic  way  to  identify  and  address  a  specific  number  of  areas  that  are  suitable  for 
trilateral cooperation and to link this cooperation where possible with existing commitments 
in multilateral fora and in particular the UN. A step-by-step approach should be taken.  

2.1. 

Guiding principles for trilateral cooperation 

–  Pragmatic  and  progressive  approach:  Practical  cooperation  on  the  ground.  This  could 
focus  on  concrete  projects  and  sectors.  Such  a  result  oriented  strategy  will  help  in 
formulating common objectives. 

–  Shared  approach:  practical  cooperation  will  be  conducted  in  full  association  and 
agreement at each stage with interested African partners (at country, or regional level).  

–  Effective  aid:  the  proposed  approach  aims  at  (a)  avoiding  duplication  of  efforts;  (b) 
ensuring  closer  coordination  of  the  EU's  and  China's  activities  at  country  level  around 
African  countries'  development  strategies  and  facilitating  the  exchange  of  experience, 
including China's own development experience, and best practices and (c) contributing to 
improved aid effectiveness and to exchange of experiences including on the roles of ODA 
and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and other means. 

The  trilateral  co-operation  will  contribute  to  enhancing  our  shared  responsibility  for  global 
governance and development.  

2.2. 

Concrete objectives of trilateral cooperation 

It is proposed to focus the trilateral cooperation - in an initial phase - on the following 
sectors, which are key for Africa's stability and development and where the added value 
of trilateral cooperation is expected to be the greatest.  

(1) 

(2) 

Peace  and  security  in  Africa:  These  are  prerequisites  for  development. 
Therefore  it  is  in  the  interest  of  Africa,  the  EU  and  China  to  cooperate  in 
order to promote stability and prosperity in African countries and economies 
and  to  work  with  the  AU  and  in  the  United  Nations  (UN)  with  China  to 
strengthen  the  development  of  the  African  Peace  and  Security  Architecture 
and assist with AU peace-keeping operations, capacity building and training. 

Support  for  African  infrastructure:  Infrastructure  is  the  backbone  of 
development,  trade  and  investment:  developing  common  strategies  and 
improving  synergies  between  Africa,  the  EU  and  China  will  help  meet 
enormous  Africa's  infrastructure  needs  and  common  objectives;  to  promote 
trilateral  cooperation  for 
the  delivery  of  affordable  and  sustainable 
infrastructure in Africa, enhancing interconnectivity and regional integration 
and  improving  the  conditions  for  sustainable  development  and  economic 
telecommunications,  energy 
growth 
including renewables, sector approaches). The Infrastructure Consortium for 
Africa should be a focal point where Africa, the EU and China together with 
other  countries  and  international  organisations  coordinate  activities  and 
exchange  experiences.  Coordination  on  the  priorities  articulated  by  Africa 
(Short  Term  Action  Plan  –  STAP  and  the  NEPAD  Infrastructure  Project 

transport  corridors, 

(multimodal 

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(3) 

(4) 

Preparation  Facility  —  NEPAD-IPPF,  2003)  could  also  be  enhanced  within 
the framework provided by the EU-Africa Partnership on Infrastructure. 

Sustainable management of the environment and natural resources is key 
to sustained growth, combating climate change and to mutual trade interests. 
Trilateral  cooperation  linked  to  initiatives  such  as  Extractive  Industries 
Transparency  Initiative  (EITI),  Forest  Law  Enforcement,  Government  and 
Trade  (FLEGT),  the  Kimberley  process,  could  allow  African  countries  to 
enhance local capacity to manage resources, trade and competition in an open 
and  transparent  manner  in  order  to  maximise  sustainable  investment  and 
development outcomes notably in sectors such as forestry, renewable energy, 
energy  efficiency,  waste  management,  fisheries  and  mining.  Given  the 
importance  of  building  long-term  national  adaptive  capacity  particularly  in 
the countries most vulnerable to climate change, the Commission proposes to 
explore  the  possibility  of  initiating  joint  work  with  the  African  Union 
Commission  (AUC)  and  China,  for  capacity  building  purposes,  on  climate 
change  and  renewable  energy,  possibly  including  technology  transfer  and 
increased  capacity  for  Clean  Development  Mechanism  (CDM)  investment, 
also  under  a  post-2012  global  climate  change  agreement.  A  strong 
environmental pillar contributes to ensure the livelihood of the poorest and to 
sustainable peace. Joint capacity building will be consistent with the existing 
bilateral  environmental  dialogues  between  the  European  Commission  and 
China and the European Union and the African Union. 

Agriculture and food security: raising productivity in the agricultural sector 
is  key  to  achieving  progress  towards  the  Millennium  Development  Goals  in 
general  and  MDG  1  on  poverty  and  hunger  in  particular.  Trilateral 
cooperation  could  enhance  Africa's  agricultural  productivity  and  production 
levels,  and  contribute  to  greater  food  security  in  a  sustainable  manner,  with 
due attention to the socio-economic, environmental and health aspects of food 
production.  The  Commission  proposes  to  explore  synergies  that  could  be 
obtained  from  trilateral  cooperation  in: agricultural  research  and  innovation, 
with a special emphasis on food staples; control of animal diseases; and food 
safety  with  a  special  emphasis  on  definition  and  compliance  with  Sanitary 
and  Phytosanitary  Standards.  Trilateral  cooperation  should  be  framed  in  the 
context of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme 
(CAADP),  which  forms  the  long-term  agenda  for  Africa's  agricultural 
development. 

2.3. 

Development policy dialogue and development partnership 

To achieve the above objectives, dialogue at Headquarters and local level should be expanded 
on the basis of the existing EU-Africa and EU-China dialogues and complement also the UN 
framework.  It  is  important  to  foster  a  culture  of  exchange  and  consultation  at  all  levels.  A 
parallel  track  of  think  tank  dialogues  would  support  policy  makers  in  enhancing  mutual 
identifying  cooperation 
understanding  on 
opportunities  while  contributing  to  capacity  building  on  research  and  fostering  people-to-
people exchanges. 

respective  policies  and  approaches  and 

Dialogue  should  be  organised  and  strengthened  at  various  levels,  building  on  existing 
structures and fora: 

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–  at continental level: to promote African continental and regional integration we look to the 
AUC to play a major role in this dialogue. The Head of the EU Delegation to the AU in 
Addis  Ababa,  Ethiopia,  could  be  a  focal  point  for  organising  regular  and  ad  hoc 
consultations between the AU, the EU and China notably in the area of peace and security. 

–  at  regional  level:  the  European  Commission  has  played  a  unique  role  in  strengthening 
Africa's  Regional  Economic  Communities  (RECs)  and  has  a  strong  instrument  for 
cooperation  under  the  EDF.  The  various  Regional  Strategies  and  Indicative  Programmes 
could be the starting point to promote trilateral cooperation in all the proposed sectors, but 
especially  in  infrastructure  where  the  appraisal  and  implementation  of  large  energy  and 
telecommunications  programmes  or  multi  modal  transport  corridors  need  a  regional 
dimension at institutional and managerial level to support the national framework8. 

–  at country (Ambassador) level for regular and ad hoc exchanges of information and views 

as well as in multilateral country-led frameworks 

–  in EU/China bilateral dialogue: put Africa as a regular item on the agenda for EU-China 
consultations, in the strategic dialogue, joint committee and the Africa troika and the EU-
China summits. Where feasible the appropriate African counterparts should be involved. 

In  order  to  promote  the  partnership  for  development  (MDG  8)  and  the  effectiveness  of 
development aid (Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness9) there is a particular need to expand 
ongoing  exchanges  of  information  and  experiences  with  the  African  partners  on  country 
strategies and how each side carries out and evaluates its development policy with the aim to 
improve complementarities and division of labour, the use of country systems, predictability 
and  management  by  results  with  fewer  procedural constraints in  delivering aid. This can be 
done  through  study  visits,  placements  of  officials  and  regular  consultations  at  headquarters 
and  country  level.  ‘Donor  coordination  meetings’  could  be  expanded  into  ‘coordination 
meetings  of  development  partners’,  and  China’s  experiences  could  be  fed  into  this  process. 
The  International  Poverty  Reduction  Centre  in  China  aims  to  become  a  platform  for  such 
exchanges  and  has  reached  out  to  the  OECD-Development  Assistance  Committee  and 
traditional donors and the EU should support such endeavours. The Heiligendamm Dialogue 
Process,  in  which  China  is  participating,  may  contribute  to  providing such  a  new  approach. 
The  OECD's  policy  of  enhanced  engagement  as  well  as  the  DAC's  current  reflections  on 
preparing  a  new  DAC  mandate  to  meet  future  challenges  may  also  provide  new  insights. 
Trilateral  cooperation  in  Africa  could  underpin  this  process  with  practical  experiences  and 
provide useful lessons to feed into the current debate on aid and development effectiveness.  

3. 

CONCLUSIONS  

Trilateral  cooperation  shall  be  progressive,  but  change  can  bring  about  improved  results  in 
addressing global development challenges in an effective multilateral way. The three partners 

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These  regional  interventions  should  only  be  implemented  when  certain  conditions  (governance, 
institutional  and  managerial  capacity  at  regional  level,  efficiency  of  the  sector  and  regional 
organisations)  are  in  place  to  enable  the  favourable  environment  necessary  to  carry  out  the  various 
operations foreseen. 
was.  China  is  a  signatory  of  the  Paris  Declaration  on  aid  effectiveness  endorsed  on  2  March  2005. 
China is actively studying other signatories' and the OECD DAC's activities in this respect. China also 
takes part in the follow-up process (e.g. Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in September 
2008) 

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can  jointly  develop  common  interests  and  discuss  crucial  global  challenges  while  pursuing 
their bilateral relations. The process will strengthen their respective bilateral partnerships and 
increase the African Union's ability to play its role as a key actor in Africa's development and 
on the international stage. The overall result of this trilateral co-operation will  contribute to 
shared responsibility for global governance and development. 

The  European  Commission  invites  EU  Member  States,  African  and  Chinese  partners  to 
consider and support the above proposals and to cooperate in organising trilateral initiatives 
along the following lines: 

–  Enhance  coordination  in  relevant  international  organisations  and  initiatives,  particularly 

around African initiatives, and identify the appropriate modalities for cooperation. 

–  Enhance the exchange of visits and officials of all sides to learn from each other and create 
a network supporting trilateral dialogue and cooperation at international, HQ and country 
level and improve information flow. 

–  Organise an annual meeting of senior officials (EU-AU-China) at the rotating initiative of 

the partners to coordinate dialogue and cooperation strategically. 

–  Invite the AU troika to join the EU-China annual dialogue on Africa. 

–  Enhance research and knowledge generation in the sectors identified. 

–  Enter into specific agreements between agencies, institutions and associations to facilitate 

results-oriented joint initiatives. 

–  Submit this Communication to the African and Chinese partners for discussion at summit 

or ministerial levels. 

The  Commission  therefore  requests  the  Council  and  European  Parliament  to  endorse  the 
above  proposals,  with  a  view  to  further  discussion  with  the  EU's  African  and  Chinese 
counterparts. 

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