Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| 27.1.2023 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 32/74 |

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P9\_TA(2022)0267

Future of EU-Africa trade relations

European Parliament resolution of 23 June 2022 on the future of EU-Africa trade relations (2021/2178(INI))

(2023/C 32/09)

The European Parliament,

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| — | having regard to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, |

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| — | having regard to the Paris Agreement, |

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| — | having regard to the joint statement following the Sixth European Union — African Union (AU) Summit of 17-18 February 2022 entitled ‘A Joint Vision for 2030’, |

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| — | having regard to the Commission communication of 11 December 2019 entitled ‘The European Green Deal’ (COM(2019)0640), |

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| — | having regard to the joint communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 9 March 2020 entitled ‘Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa’ (JOIN(2020)0004), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 25 March 2021 entitled ‘A new EU-Africa Strategy — a partnership for sustainable and inclusive development’ [(1)](#ntr1-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0001), |

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| — | having regard to the AU ‘Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want’, |

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| — | having regard to the AU initiatives launched to achieve the Agenda 2063, including Accelerated Industrial Development for Africa, the Programme for Infrastructure Development for Africa, Boosting Intra-African Trade and Africa Mining Vision, |

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| — | having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the European Union, of the one part, and the members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, of the other part, |

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| — | having regard to the Commission communication of 18 February 2021 entitled ‘Trade Policy Review — An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy’ (COM(2021)0066), |

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| — | having regard to the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), those concluded and those under negotiation, between the EU and 14 sub-Saharan African countries and regions, and other EU free trade agreements with Northern African countries, |

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| — | having regard to the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government decision of 2 July 2018 on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) [(2)](#ntr2-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0002), |

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| — | having regard to the Kigali Decision of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government of July 2016 on the outcome of the retreat of the Assembly of the African Union, in particular paragraph 5 on the financing of the Union [(3)](#ntr3-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0003), |

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| — | having regard to the Commission communication of 12 September 2018 entitled ‘A new Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs: Taking our partnership for investment and jobs to the next level’ (COM(2018)0643), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 13 March 2018 on gender equality in EU trade agreements [(4)](#ntr4-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0004), |

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| — | having regard to the G7 Finance Ministers’ statement of 25 September 2020 on the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and debt relief for vulnerable countries, |

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| — | having regard to the joint communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 1 December 2021 on the Global Gateway (JOIN(2021)0030), |

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| — | having regard to the Commission proposal of 14 July 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a carbon border adjustment mechanism (COM(2021)0564), |

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| — | having regard to the joint communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 25 November 2020 entitled ‘The EU Gender Action Plan (GAP III) — An Ambitious Agenda for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in EU External Action’ (JOIN(2020)0017), |

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| — | having regard to the joint communication of the Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of 9 February 2021 entitled ‘Renewed partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood: A new Agenda for the Mediterranean’ (JOIN(2021)0002) and the accompanying joint staff working document (SWD(2021)0023), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2022 on the EU Gender Action Plan III [(5)](#ntr5-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0005), |

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| — | having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2173/2005 of 20 December 2005 on the establishment of a FLEGT licensing scheme for imports of timber into the European Community [(6)](#ntr6-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0006) and the associated Voluntary Partnership Agreements between the EU and partner countries, |

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| — | having regard to the Commission proposal of 17 November 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation (COM(2021)0706), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 10 March 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on corporate due diligence and corporate accountability [(7)](#ntr7-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0007), |

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| — | having regard to the Kimberley Process and to its resolution of 16 December 2021 on the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme [(8)](#ntr8-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0008), |

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| — | having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/821 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 laying down supply chain due diligence obligations for Union importers of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas [(9)](#ntr9-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0009), |

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| — | having regard to the Commission proposal of 22 September 2021 for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on applying a generalised scheme of tariff preferences (COM(2021)0579), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 10 February 2021 on the New Circular Economy Action Plan [(10)](#ntr10-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0010), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 20 October 2021 on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system [(11)](#ntr11-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0011), |

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| — | having regard to its resolution of 25 November 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on legal migration policy and law [(12)](#ntr12-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0012), |

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| — | having regard to the declaration of the Africa-Europe Forum of Local and Regional Governments of 15 February 2022, |

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| — | having regard to the joint declaration of the business organisations of the Seventh EU-Africa Business Forum of 14 February 2022, |

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| — | having regard to the Africa-Europe Week CSO Forum outcome document of February 2022 entitled ‘No decision about us without us!’, |

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| — | having regard to the joint outcomes of the youth track of the Africa-Europe Week of February 2022, |

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| — | having regard to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Economic Development in Africa Report 2021 entitled ‘Reaping the potential benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Area for inclusive growth’, |

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| — | having regard to the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs, |

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| — | having regard to the recommendations in the final report of South Africa’s Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture of 4 May 2019, |

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| — | having regard to the report of the AU-EU Digital Economy Task Force of 13 June 2019 entitled ‘New Africa-Europe Digital Economy Partnership: Accelerating the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals’, |

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| — | having regard to the EU Aid for Trade Progress Report 2021, |

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| — | having regard to the EU multi-stakeholder dialogue for sustainable cocoa, which focuses on the cocoa sector in two of the main producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, |

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| — | having regard to the address of Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, of 12 December 2021 to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, |

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| — | having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 2 March 2022 on the aggression against Ukraine, |

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| — | having regard to the Commission communication of 23 March 2022 on safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems (COM(2022)0133), |

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| — | having regard the European Council conclusions of 16 December 2021, |

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| — | having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure, |

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| — | having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Development and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, |

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| — | having regard to the report of the Committee on International Trade (A9-0169/2022), |

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| A. | whereas the European Union (EU) and Africa have an important and long-standing political, economic and cultural relationship; whereas the Sixth Summit of the EU and the African Union (AU) in 2022 led to an agreement on ‘A Joint Vision for 2030’, a new mutually beneficial joint strategy which strengthens the ties between the two unions and will allow for closer cooperation on issues of mutual convergence in the areas of trade, development, security and good governance; whereas its aim is to drive forward our common priorities by preserving together our interests and common public goods, the security and prosperity of our citizens, the protection of human rights for all, gender equality and women’s empowerment in all spheres of life, respect for democratic principles and the rule of law, actions to preserve the environment and biodiversity, sustainable and inclusive economic growth, the fight against inequalities, support for children’s rights and the inclusion of young people and the most disadvantaged; whereas both unions recognise the importance of food security and nutrition; whereas this renewed partnership will be founded on geography, acknowledgement of history, human ties, respect for sovereignty, mutual respect and accountability, shared values, equality between partners and reciprocal commitments; whereas the EU and the AU have committed to strengthening their strategic partnership in order to face new challenges together, such as climate change, post-pandemic recovery and building up resilience to future shocks; |

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| B. | whereas peace is a precondition for sustainable development and for a stable trade and investment environment; whereas the geopolitical global context has been subject to considerable change since the Russian Federation’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, including when it comes to relations between the EU and Africa; whereas the UN General Assembly condemned Russia’s aggression against Ukraine with an overwhelming majority in its resolution of 2 March 2022, including support from the AU, with 28 of its member states supporting the resolution; whereas 16 of its member states abstained and nine chose not to vote; whereas Russia’s invasion and the consequences of the war are having devastating consequences for global value and supply chains, in particular for access to wheat and other commodities, which is putting many more millions of people at risk of food shortages; whereas food security on the African continent is being affected particularly badly; whereas North Africa imports 60 % of its wheat and other food crops from Ukraine and Russia, and several African countries are facing shortages in imports of fertilisers; whereas the disruption of supply chains brought about by Russia’s war against Ukraine could lead to food riots and social unrest; |

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| C. | whereas achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 must become the central guideline and benchmark of success of EU-Africa cooperation, including the contribution of trade and investment relations to combating poverty; |

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| D. | whereas migration is part of SDG 10.7, which aims to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people; |

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| E. | whereas the EU Trade Policy Review acknowledges the strategic importance of deepening engagement with the African continent and African states by proposing several strands of action to strengthen trade and economic links between the EU and Africa; whereas Europe and Africa are neighbouring continents whose prosperity and stability are closely interlinked and need to be supported by closer and fairer economic integration; |

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| F. | whereas the EU and its Member States are the world’s largest providers of Aid for Trade (AfT), making 38 % of global contributions; whereas Africa continued to receive the largest share of AfT commitments in 2019; whereas the EU intends to increase the share of EU AfT allocated to least-developed countries (LDCs) to help to double their share of global exports, as in 2020, the LDCs’ share of global exports was still 1 % and their share of exports to the EU was still 2 %; |

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| G. | whereas the EU should pursue a ‘Team Europe’ approach in its cooperation with Africa, including more coordination between different Commission directorates-general, European development financing institutions, European export credit agencies, commercial banks and EU Member States; |

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| H. | whereas the EU and its Member States constitute the most important trading partner for Africa, and whereas the value of trade increased in 2021 to EUR 288 billion from a low value of EUR 225 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; whereas the trade deficit in favour of the EU decreased from EUR 24 billion in 2020 to EUR 4 billion in 2021; whereas under existing trade agreements and the EU’s unilateral preferences for developing countries, 90 % of African exports enjoy duty-free and quota-free access to the EU single market; whereas in 2021, over 65 % of goods imported to the EU from Africa were primary goods such as food and drink, raw materials and energy, and whereas in 2021, 68 % of goods exported from the EU to Africa were manufactured goods; whereas this trade structure reflects the structural imbalance and interdependence of the economies involved, and hence keeps the African continent at the lower value end of global value chains; whereas the EU and its Member States have long been Africa’s biggest source of investment, official development assistance, humanitarian assistance and security funding; |

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| I. | whereas the United States did trade in goods with Africa in 2021 of approximately USD 26,7 billion in exports and USD 37,5 billion in imports, the combined value being USD 64,2 billion; whereas despite the Prosper Africa initiative launched by the previous US administration, US trade with sub-Saharan Africa is stagnating and represents less than 1 % of all US trade in goods; |

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| J. | whereas Africa’s share in global trade has declined steadily over the past 50 years and accounts for 2,9 % of world trade according to UNCTAD; whereas the continent has a high level of dependence on imports and commodity-based natural resource exports; whereas interregional trade accounts for only 14,4 % of total continental trade; |

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| K. | whereas the African Development Bank estimates the economic cost from the illicit trade in natural resources to be USD 120 billion per annum, which is 5 % of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) [(13)](#ntr13-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0013); |

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| L. | whereas the level of intra-continental trade in Africa is far below its potential, and strengthening it is essential for the continent’s sustainable economic structural transformation; whereas the African and European private sectors have a shared interest in the successful and effective implementation of the AfCFTA, notably with regard to the economic growth and job opportunities it is expected to create; whereas the entry into force of the AfCFTA on 30 May 2019 and the launch of trading under its preferences on 1 January 2021 as a flagship project of the First Ten-Year Implementation Plan (2014-2023) under the AU’s Agenda 2063 have given new momentum to pan-African trade and investment opportunities and have increased Euro-African connectivity; |

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| M. | whereas the AfCFTA will become the world’s largest free trade area in terms of participating countries, including 54 out of the 55 AU member states, creating a market of 1,2 billion people, including a fast-growing middle class, and making it the eighth biggest economic bloc in the world with a combined GDP of USD 3 trillion, which is expected to more than double by 2050; whereas according to the World Bank, each year Africa’s GDP could increase by 1 %, its total employment by 1,2 % and intra-African trade by 33 %; whereas the creation of the AfCFTA represents a major opportunity for the EU, but its success will depend in large part on its ability to mobilise investments and to foster trade exchanges and a corporate presence in Africa; |

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| N. | whereas within the AfCFTA, tariffs on 90 % of tariff lines are to be eliminated, with a commitment by non-least-developed countries to liberalise tariffs on non-sensitive goods over five years and LDCs over 10 years; whereas 7 % of tariff lines are on sensitive goods and non-least-developed countries will liberalise tariffs on sensitive goods over 10 years and LDCs over 13 years; whereas 3 % of tariff lines can be excluded from liberalisation; whereas the AfCFTA is an important step in leaving behind the current model for formal trade in Africa, which is characterised by long border crossing times, extensive regulatory requirements and high taxes; |

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| O. | whereas the AfCFTA aims to be, in addition to a trade-liberalising instrument, an enabler of inclusive growth and sustainable development in line with the Agenda 2063; whereas the effective and coordinated implementation of the AfCFTA as a continental regime is essential for enhancing intra-African trade and will be a major challenge, with different layers and commitments arising from trade agreements, regional economic communities and customs unions requiring extensive measures for the development of cross-border transport infrastructure and enhanced trade facilitation to better enable cross-border value chains; whereas governance reforms targeting trade facilitation, non-tariff barriers to trade, compliance with common technical and health-related product standards and labour law, trade remedies and safeguards are essential to achieve the AU’s aspirations and to make the AfCFTA an effective and predictable regime; whereas like every trade agreement, the AfCFTA will create positive and negative effects and it is essential to have proper support measures in place to mitigate any adverse effects and ensure that the AfCFTA can contribute to the advancement of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and in particular ensure that women and youth-led companies can benefit from new opportunities; |

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| P. | whereas with regard to trade and in particular rules of origin and cumulation, the EU’s diverse arrangements with African countries have led to a fragmentation of the African continent, thus creating tariff-related barriers and hindering the building of cross-border value chains within the AfCFTA; |

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| Q. | whereas African states are not homogeneous; whereas the African continent is particularly vulnerable to external ‘shocks’ given its high rate of dependency, not only on external financial resources and revenue such as foreign remittances, foreign direct investment, tourism and external aid, but also on imports of manufactured goods; |

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| R. | whereas Africa is a continent of hope and opportunity and is perceived as such by a growing number of its young people; whereas Africa is the youngest continent in the world, with a median age of 19,8 years and 60 % of the population under the age of 25; whereas by 2050, the population of Africa will have doubled, from some 1,2 billion people to some 2,4 billion, and whereas, by the same year, 50 % of the global population under 25 years of age will be in Africa, which will be a significant challenge to the economies and democratic governance of African countries and will have an impact on geopolitics, global trade and migration; whereas Africa is today home to four times as many children as Europe and whereas 70 % of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is under 30; whereas the increase in the population and the rising number of middle-class individuals will require a proportional increase in food supplies, and therefore the agri-food sector should open up economic and employment opportunities for young Africans, whose participation in the sector will also be essential for ensuring generational replacement and for renewing the agri-food system; whereas Africa’s young people are in need of quality education and employment and business opportunities to enable them to contribute to their countries’ growth and sustainable development; whereas Europe’s population is ageing and many economic sectors are already reporting shortages in qualified labour and problems in finding apprentices; whereas economically empowering women and young people in Africa contributes both to economic growth and to advancing their position in society; |

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| S. | whereas the SDG of zero hunger aims to end hunger by 2030 and achieve food security and improved nutrition; whereas progress on this goal has slowed in recent years, with more than 800 million people on our planet still going to bed hungry every night; whereas the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has forecasted that the number of people in Africa suffering from hunger will rise significantly from 280 to 300 million, placing it by 2030 on a par with Asia as the regions with the highest number of undernourished people; whereas food insecurity has worsened in the continent and 21 % of the population was malnourished in 2020; whereas the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit established that driving these unwelcome trends are the increasing frequency and intensity of conflict, climate variability and extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns, and high levels of inequality, the latter increased by economic downturns in 2020, which were mainly a consequence of COVID-19 containment measures across the world; |

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| T. | whereas climate change and environmental degradation are existential threats to Africa, the EU and the entire world, and require joint responsiveness and substantive investments in resilience; whereas EU-Africa trade relations must play a crucial role in addressing the climate transition and fostering common efforts to achieve sustainable growth, inclusive economic development and access to public goods, notably through the promotion of sustainable supply chains and trade diversification in the transition to a low-carbon economy; whereas the EU has committed to turning itself into the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and to decoupling its economic growth from resource use; whereas African countries have so far contributed and are contributing very little to greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of whether this is measured through historical, current or expected emissions and in total or per capita terms, while production, lifestyle and consumption habits in the EU do contribute to climate change; whereas the effects of climate change will be catastrophic, particularly for many African states, some of which will be among the worst impacted; whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, adaptation costs to avoid the even higher costs of additional disaster relief are estimated at USD 30–50 billion per year over the next decade, or 2-3 % of regional GDP; whereas the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) will take place in the African state of Egypt in 2022; whereas the transition to a decarbonised world must be just and equitable; whereas the EU has proposed to make energy access one of the main pillars of cooperation with Africa under the European Green Deal; |

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| U. | whereas the EU and the AU have announced an Africa-Europe investment package of EUR 150 billion over a period of six years, an average of EUR 25 billion a year, which will support common ambitions for the 2030 Agenda and the AU Agenda 2063 and will have investment, health and education components; whereas these investments should not add to the debt burden of African countries; |

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| V. | whereas about 34 % of African households live below the USD 1,90 per day international poverty line, and around 40 % of the continent’s total wealth is owned by approximately 0,0001 % of its population; whereas large disparities remain in the development of African countries; whereas given the expected rapid growth of the African population, it is even more essential to ensure that it will be accompanied by sustainable development, quality education and decent job creation; |

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| W. | whereas only around one in three African countries have decent work country programmes, which have been established as the main vehicle of delivery for International Labour Organization (ILO) support tailored to the priorities and outcomes of each country; |

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| X. | whereas the Commission has launched the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative, co-led by its Directorate-General for Trade and its Directorate-General for International Partnerships and focused on Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, with Cameroon as an observer, with the main objectives being to ensure a sustainable living income for farmers, to achieve the elimination of child labour in the cocoa supply chain and to achieve the elimination of deforestation for the purposes of creating cocoa plantations; |

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| Y. | whereas the 2021 UNICEF/ILO report on child labour indicates that child labour has been on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa since 2012 and that this upward trend will continue because of the pervasive effects of the pandemic; |

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| Z. | whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences set back growth across Africa in 2020 and may have thrown an additional 30 million people into poverty and exacerbated the prevalence of child labour; whereas post-pandemic recovery packages signal a sea change in policy consensus; whereas the capacity of public funds to support recovery differs across regions, causing an imminent risk of inequalities being exacerbated; whereas the full vaccination rate was no higher than 15 % in Africa as of March 2022 (in comparison with 73 % in the EU); whereas millions of vaccines have to be destroyed before they can be used in poorer nations because of a rapidly approaching expiry date; whereas the EU and the AU have committed to supporting fully fledged African health sovereignty to enable the continent to respond to future public health emergencies, and have committed to supporting, to this end, a common agenda for manufacturing vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, therapeutics and health products in Africa, including through investment in production capacities, voluntary technology transfers and the strengthening of the regulatory framework to enable equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics; whereas Parliament welcomes all measures in support of the African health system and the continent’s health capacities; |

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| AA. | whereas a sustainable and inclusive recovery in Africa from COVID-19 will require an additional USD 1 trillion annually, on top of the USD 2,5 trillion annual gap in finance for the SDGs that predated the crisis; whereas this endeavour constitutes an important investment opportunity; whereas the European Investment Bank (EIB) has stepped up its efforts to help African partners respond to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis by providing EUR 5 billion to support more than EUR 12 billion of transformational private and public investment across Africa in 2020; |

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| AB. | whereas the Sixth EU-AU Summit underlined the urgency of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) contribution to the fight against the pandemic and to the recovery of the global economy, and committed the parties to working constructively towards an agreement on a comprehensive WTO response to the pandemic that includes trade-related and intellectual-property-related aspects; whereas the European Commission and the governments of the United States, India and South Africa have reached a compromise proposal in the WTO to be presented to the WTO member states that would facilitate a waiver of certain intellectual property rules, in particular certain criteria of compulsory licensing provisions under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), while it does not yet include provisions regarding diagnostic tools, devices and treatments as demanded by African states; whereas a broader discussion in the WTO is yet to commence; |

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| AC. | whereas the press release for the report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Workshop on Biodiversity and Pandemics notes that ‘pandemic risk can be significantly lowered by reducing the human activities that drive the loss of biodiversity, by greater conservation of protected areas, and through measures that reduce unsustainable exploitation of high biodiversity regions’; |

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| AD. | whereas according to the International Monetary Fund, about 60 % of low-income countries are at high risk of or are already in debt distress as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, while in 2015 that figure was below 30 %; whereas governments of highly indebted countries in both Europe and Africa find it difficult to mobilise much-needed investment in the preconditions for economic development, such as a qualified work force and modern infrastructure; |

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| AE. | whereas the AfCFTA secretariat has established a USD 1 billion AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, funded by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), which is aimed at supporting countries that would in the short term experience revenue losses as a result of reducing or eliminating their tariffs; whereas the AfCFTA secretariat estimates the actual need to be about USD 7 billion; |

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| AF. | whereas the EU is the world’s biggest importer and exporter of agri-food products; whereas despite the fact that Africa has the most arable land in the world, AU countries are net food importers, with farmers producing below their potential, partially due to the effects of certain European domestic policies and practices on prices that African farmers can achieve for their products on local markets, increased by tariffs that render African processed food exports uncompetitive; whereas common-agricultural-policy-supported exports of EU milk powder to West Africa have increased, and whereas the tripling of exports since the EU lifted its milk quotas in 2015 has had serious consequences for many local herders and farmers whose milk prices cannot compete with the very low prices for milk powder; whereas respecting fair conditions for EU-Africa trade in agricultural products should be the baseline for EU and African exports and imports of food and other agricultural products, in addition to the need to ensure that agricultural exports do not contradict the goal to establish a more resilient food sector in Africa; whereas to advance sustainable agriculture on both continents, room should be made for agriculture reform models in Africa and Europe that offer farmers dignity, strengthen domestic and regional resilience and can unlock the potential for both continents to ensure abundant nutrition and become self-sustaining in food, as well as contributors to food security in other regions of the world; whereas family farming provides for up to 70 % of the food supply in the continent that is actually consumed by Africans, rather than being farmed for the purpose of being exported; whereas according to the UN Development Programme’s Africa Human Development Report 2016, gender inequality is costing sub-Saharan Africa 6 % of the region’s GDP, jeopardising the continent’s efforts to achieve inclusive human development and economic growth; whereas equalising women’s access to agricultural inputs could raise crop production by up to 19 %, boost agricultural and overall GDP and lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty [(14)](#ntr14-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0014); |

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| AG. | whereas in 2020, there was an almost 40 % increase in the number of people affected by food insecurity compared with the previous year; whereas the war in Ukraine demonstrates the interconnectedness of food security and the global market, and the dependency of some African countries on food imports from a small number of exporting countries or regions; whereas overdependence can leave countries vulnerable to external shocks; whereas the Food & Agriculture Resilience Mission initiative was presented at the G7 summit on 24 March 2022, with concrete measures to ensure food security globally, and notably in the African countries most impacted by the food production disruption resulting from the war in Ukraine; whereas household surveys by the International Monetary Fund found that broadening access to early warning systems and information on food prices and weather, even by means of simple text or voice message to inform farmers when to plant, irrigate or fertilise their crops, can enable climate-smart agriculture and has the potential to reduce the risk of food insecurity by 30 percentage points; |

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| AH. | whereas micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in low and middle-income countries across Africa suffer, in terms of intra-African trade, from significant transaction costs and delays caused by limited cross-border relations between banks, issues with foreign currency availability, high service costs for intermediaries and the need to rate the selling and purchasing currencies against the US dollar; whereas technological developments and cooperation between central banks such as under the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System can offer a way out of this problem; |

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| AI. | whereas negotiations are taking place in the AfCFTA on the planned liberalisation of services, starting with five priority sectors identified by the AU, namely transport, tourism, communications, financial and business services; whereas services account for 54 % of African GDP and 75 % of foreign direct investment; |

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| AJ. | whereas the AU’s Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa (2020-2030) envisions a secured digital single market for Africa by 2030 where movement of persons, services and capital is ensured and individuals and businesses can seamlessly access and engage in online activities in line with the AfCFTA; whereas the digital economy in Africa offers prospects for increased job creation, particularly for SMEs, which provide an estimated 80 % of jobs across the continent and are the backbone of the African economy; whereas the digitalisation of trade and the promotion of paperless trading systems has significant potential to support small-scale traders, including women-led enterprises and young entrepreneurs; whereas substantive investment in internet infrastructure is needed to facilitate the digital participation of the African population, of which only 33 % had access to the internet in 2021; whereas our African partners are also actively seeking EU assistance in enhancing Africa’s digital infrastructure and ensuring proper connectivity and internet access across the continent; whereas Africa is trailing far behind the USA, China and to a lesser extent Europe when it comes to digital technological developments; whereas according to UNCTAD, Africa accounts for less than 1 % of global exports of digitally deliverable services; |

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|  | 1. | Affirms that EU-Africa trade and investment relations form part of our joint endeavour to achieve the UN SDGs by 2030 and the objectives of the Paris Agreement; stresses that Africa is a key geographical priority in the EU’s new trade strategy, and underlines the importance of a more robust dialogue between the EU and Africa; emphasises, in this respect, that the EU should invest more efforts in taking the partnership beyond the traditional ‘donor-recipient’ relationship; stresses that the modernisation of EU-AU trade and investment relations can bring enormous benefits in terms of stimulating economic growth, regional integration, poverty reduction and job creation, can contribute to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and to the green and digital transformation of the economies of countries in both the EU and the AU, as well as among our global trading partners, and must adhere to the principle of policy coherence for development as enshrined in Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; underlines that geographical proximity and long-standing historical and cultural ties are increasingly reinforced by growing trade exchanges; stresses that the participation of civil society organisations must be a cornerstone of the EU-AU strategy to achieve the UN SDGs; |

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|  | 2. | Calls on the Commission to deepen and better structure its cooperation with our African partners and therefore to establish a regular high-level policy dialogue, to include a parliamentary dimension also involving the European Parliament; calls for this dialogue to be complemented by an exchange at the level of regional groupings, as well as individual states, and by a parallel dialogue with civil society stakeholders in Africa and the EU as vital elements in advancing the EU’s equal partnership with Africa; |

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|  | 3. | Stresses the importance of creating a resilient, competitive and solid infrastructure and industrial basis in Africa, as laid down in the AU’s Agenda 2063, aiming at the development of resilient value chains and high added value processing of raw materials in Africa as a major avenue towards quality job creation; calls on the Commission and European enterprises and investors, including the EIB, to apply modern, sustainable and, wherever possible, climate-neutral production technologies in African industrialisation projects; insists that social partners be involved in all stages of promoting industrialisation; stresses, in this regard, the need to support Africa in tailoring its own independent macroeconomic, fiscal, monetary and trade policies and calls on the Commission to enable Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) countries to protect their infant industries, including through technical and financial support, and to provide for the right to legislate respectively; stresses that efforts to protect the environment should be placed at the centre of cooperation policies and programmes in support of industrialisation and the creation of decent jobs in Africa, to be established and implemented by all responsible stakeholders from the two continents; |

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|  | 4. | Calls on the Commission to promote sustainable investments to move towards a carbon-free economy, in line with its pledge in the Glasgow Climate Pact, while ensuring responsible and sustainable sourcing and management of natural resources and raw materials, as well as sustainable waste management in line with its Green Deal objectives; |

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|  | 5. | Underlines the fundamental role of functioning state institutions, authorities and infrastructure, and considers that their absence can be a major obstacle to trade; stresses, in this regard, that all African countries must improve legal certainty, as it is vital for any kind of trade to develop; calls on the Commission to work closely with its African counterparts to guarantee a business environment that is conducive to investment; |

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|  | 6. | Stresses the need to adapt the economic and trade proposals of the new Agenda for the Mediterranean, adopted by the Commission on 9 February 2021, to the current emergency situation; calls for the smooth implementation of the trade-related projects under the Economic and Investment Plan as soon as possible; |

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|  | 7. | Underlines that the EU needs an entirely new foundation for its economic partnership with Africa, on equal grounds and based on equality, mutual respect and understanding, including of the challenges African partners face in the context of trade and investment relations, taking into account the changing dynamics and addressing continuous imbalances and shortcomings; believes that this is a unique opportunity to revive trade relations between the two continents, and that the summit has established a pathway for the EU and AU to engage in a renewed, mutually beneficial, sustainable partnership based on solidarity and cooperation, and to reshape economic, commercial and trade relations with the aim of empowering Africa, including by ensuring fair and ethical trade relations which favour African continental integration; underlines that the EU-Africa trade relationship should promote human rights and labour rights, good governance, the rule of law and gender equality, and calls on the Commission to promote these elements within the context of EU-Africa trade relations; |

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|  | 8. | Urges the Commission to help end the ‘fill and finish’ role of African nations by supporting a multi-stakeholder system which will allow AU nations to produce their own vaccinations, an ability already demonstrated in the production of HIV vaccines, which will open spaces for the development of scientific potential and decrease dependence on a handful of corporations worldwide; |

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|  | 9. | Stresses that the EU response to global vaccination efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic led to a disruption in EU-Africa relations; underlines that the outcomes of the Sixth EU-AU Summit must be a new starting point for advancing EU-Africa relations; calls on the Commission to engage with African partners bilaterally and in a structured manner and to pursue regional and multilateral engagement to advance EU-Africa relations; calls on the Commission to engage with Parliament on a discussion on the TRIPS waiver compromise negotiated by the ‘quad’ of the EU, the US, India and South Africa; calls on the Commission to remain flexible and pragmatic in the discussions in the WTO aimed at reaching a compromise on a targeted and temporary TRIPS waiver with other WTO members so as to move towards a conclusion and meaningful results on trade- and health-related aspects by the 12th Ministerial Conference; |

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|  | 10. | Reiterates the importance of peace for positive social, environmental and economic development; takes note of the lack of support for the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the aggression against Ukraine among many African governments, and that African support for EU positions cannot be taken for granted; calls on the Commission and the European External Action Service to explore the variety of reasons for the scepticism, and to increase diplomatic efforts to build common positions against military aggression on both continents; |

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|  | 11. | Supports the objectives and aspirations of the AfCFTA as expressed in its preamble; supports also the Agenda 2063 aspirations of creating a continental market with the free movement of persons, capital, goods and services, in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent; considers the AfCFTA an ambitious economic integration initiative which presents a major opportunity for African countries to boost inclusive growth, enable sustainable development, reduce poverty and improve living standards, generate high numbers of decent jobs, increase the competitiveness of African countries, promote green technology and energy, increase the sustainability of public finances, fight corruption and promote good governance, and achieve structural transformations within participating states; calls for the EU to actively support the AfCFTA; stresses that indicators in measuring economic success in Africa and the EU should be improved and diversified beyond GDP growth and recommends referring also to indicators such as the Gini coefficient, the Genuine Progress Indicator, the Human Development Index, the Theil index to measure export diversification, indicators pertaining to gender discrimination, and in particular the SDG progress reports; |

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|  | 12. | Recalls that between 2014 and 2020, the EU allocated more than EUR 74 million in funding to the establishment of the AfCFTA through its Pan-African Programme, and that the funding has been used for capacity building in the negotiation, ratification and implementation of the AfCFTA Agreement; calls for the EU and its Member States to continue their financial and technical support to the implementation of the AfCFTA; notes that for the AfCFTA to deliver on its promises and go beyond mere trade liberalisation in lifting people out of poverty, countries in Africa need the policy space to adopt policies that enhance consistency between trade measures, diversification objectives, responding to population needs, sustainability and inclusive growth; |

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|  | 13. | Calls on the commissions of both the AU and the EU to facilitate the development of regional value chains and better regional infrastructure in Africa; stresses the need for consistent investments and public oversight in the development of general and cross-border sustainable infrastructure; points out the need to invest significantly in transport infrastructure, connectivity and digitalisation in order to facilitate regional trade and thus the diversification and resilience of local, regional and continental value chains; notes that removing barriers to intra-African trade can facilitate the growth of regional value chains, which can facilitate means for African companies, and in particular SMEs, to internationalise; stresses that the Global Gateway should contribute to the development of infrastructure to increase intra-African trade and invites the AU partners to respond to the proposals of Team Europe for joint infrastructure projects; calls on both EU and African partners to implement the jointly identified priority projects without further delay, and to create project-related profit opportunities for local companies and job opportunities for the local population, while strictly observing high environmental and labour standards and the Paris Agreement; underlines the need for the further development of infrastructure for rural areas, and points out that in sub-Saharan Africa an estimated 40 % of staple foods being transported do not make it to the market owing to poor infrastructure and the lack of cooling and storage facilities; calls on the European Commission and the AU to map the regional value chains between the EU and Africa, beyond bilateral trade flows, and to perform a SWOT analysis, notably with a view to identifying avenues for nearshoring and areas of collaboration such as the circular economy and the greening of supply chains; stresses the importance of further developing the infrastructure and connections between sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, and between West and East Africa; |

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|  | 14. | Underlines the importance of including gender equality and gender mainstreaming in EU-Africa trade relations as an essential component to foster inclusive and sustainable growth; stresses that trade and investment relations have the potential to promote gender equality and to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of women and to more equal and resilient economies and societies; considers that the EU-African partnership should provide particular support to female and youth entrepreneurship in rural and urban areas, including through small producer organisations, and that to do so it is essential to support equal access to economic and productive resources such as financial services, as well as to markets, and to safeguard land rights; welcomes the Commission’s work on data collection and analysis to better understand the impact of trade policy on women; calls on the Commission to engage with African partners to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in EU-Africa trade relations; calls on the Commission to gender mainstream EU-Africa trade and investment relations; calls on the Commission to include standalone gender chapters in EPAs; emphasises the essential role of rural women in agricultural and rural economies across the African continent, in particular with regard to food security; recalls that almost half of agricultural work in Africa is done by women; calls for the development of exchanges between African and EU female entrepreneurs by means of platforms that enable networking, experience-sharing and the running of common projects; encourages the advancement of inheritance rights for women and girls and calls for the EU to support partner countries, particularly with regard to their recognition of women’s full entitlement to land rights; |

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|  | 15. | Underlines the need to establish a constructive public-private dialogue and to enable cultures to evolve with a view to the development of an intelligent network of ecosystems, and the eventual hybridisation of the public and private spheres; stresses that, against this backdrop, the EU must continue to work with African countries on facilitating and promoting private investment on the continent, as public investment is not enough on its own; calls for a further increase in public and private trilateral partnerships to develop new trade links in sectors of common interest such as energy, industry, transport; |

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|  | 16. | Stresses the key role attributed to the EU External Investment Plan, and in particular the European Fund for Sustainable Development as its first pillar, in shaping EU trade and investment policy towards Africa, in parallel with the EPAs; recalls its emphasis put on improving the investment climate in partner countries; stresses that the EU’s commitment to boost private-sector investment for achieving the SDGs must be tantamount to establishing mandatory human rights, social rights and environmental due diligence obligations, based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which should apply to the whole value chain and include provisions on access to justice; |

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|  | 17. | Calls on the commissions of both the AU and the EU to create and facilitate the conditions required for African countries to change the nature of their integration into the world economy, from sources of primary commodities, to exporters of intermediate and final products, while maintaining policy space for the safeguarding of infant industries; recommends enhanced cooperation with universities and other research facilities in Africa in order to establish a platform for technology and knowledge exchange; highlights, in this context, the opportunity that developing and investing on emerging markets represents for both continents, in particular in the manufacturing sector; further stresses the importance of strengthening links between EU and African businesses in this regard, in order to help create value and raise standards and therefore improve competitiveness; |

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|  | 18. | Stresses that efforts geared towards supply chain diversification create opportunities for both continents and believes that the EU and the AU should work together to create the conditions and incentives required to support the diversification of investments and the production of EU and African companies; |

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|  | 19. | Reiterates that the EU and the AU share a common interest in a stable and rules-based multilateral trading system, which contributes to advancing economic growth in the EU and on the African continent; emphasises that the reform and modernisation of the WTO and the WTO rulebook is an important area for cooperation between the EU and the AU, and calls on the partners to work together to create a fair and equitable trade and financial global architecture through the revitalisation of the WTO, including the finalisation of the Doha Round to better take the interests of the countries in the Global South into account, as agreed on by the WTO membership; |

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|  | 20. | Highlights that the WTO-led Aid for Trade initiative aims to help least developed countries, in particular, to build the supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure they need to implement and benefit from WTO agreements and, more broadly, expand their trade; believes that, in this sense, this initiative is a key component in trade relations with Africa, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis; |

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|  | 21. | Points out that the Aid for Trade agenda should play a role in mobilising resources to address trade-related constraints, financing infrastructure needs and helping to build the capacity of African countries to establish appropriate regulatory structures; |

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|  | 22. | Underlines the importance of strengthening collaboration among the WTO, UNCTAD, the ILO, the UN Environment Programme, the FAO and other UN bodies to keep the multilateral vision alive by driving a common agenda for shared prosperity and in conformity with policy coherence for development; |

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|  | 23. | Stresses that accountable and transparent global governance should feature greater participation of parliamentary bodies, as directly elected parliamentarians can function as a crucial link between citizens and the multilateral system; emphasises the importance of the work of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO jointly organised by the European Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and calls for more efforts to increase the involvement of parliamentarians from Africa and in particular the Pan-African Parliament; underlines the need to ensure that parliamentarians have better access to trade negotiations and are involved in the decision-making and review processes of the WTO; calls for the strengthening of the role of both the European Parliament and the Pan-African Parliament, as well as the national parliaments of all WTO member states in the mandating phase of international trade and investment negotiations; |

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|  | 24. | Stresses that the renewed EU-Africa relationship should have at its heart the shared best interests of both continents and should build on a strong partnership; concludes that a partnership of equals, based on full cooperation between the AU and EU, is an appropriate response to global competitors; is convinced that, if the EU’s geopolitical competition is driven only by demarcation from other world powers, continuing the traditional policy of influence stands in the way of mutually beneficial cooperation; points out that fair competition of interests is not alien to market economies and that African partners reserve the right to benefit from a demand situation in their favour; |

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|  | 25. | Is convinced that EU interests, such as access to raw materials, shaping economic relations to promote the EU economy, and managing migration, i.e. by tackling its root causes, can best be pursued through a new partnership of equals; is convinced that a new partnership of equals can enable the EU to effectively strengthen its strategic autonomy; |

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|  | 26. | Stresses that the EU should favour constructive engagement on all aspects of migration, forced displacement and mobility, working to ensure that migration takes place in a safe and well-regulated manner; considers it essential to build a long-term shared strategy to link trade, development and migration policies, as established in several European Council conclusions, in particular those adopted on 16 December 2021, as such a strategy could play a key role in fighting human smuggling and illegal migration routes from African countries to the EU; |

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|  | 27. | Underlines that enhancing the quality of intercontinental trade will require regularising mobility and migration on the African continent; insists — though trade policy may, in certain circumstances, minimise forced migration through job creation — neither the EU’s trade policy nor its development assistance should be leveraged to secure non-EU countries’ cooperation on migration, which could undermine the EU’s principles and values and the primary objective of poverty reduction; recalls, in this regard, that forced migration can only be resolved by creating legal pathways, enhancing international protection and addressing the broader development, political, climate and humanitarian crises that lead to forced displacement; |

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|  | 28. | Notes the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains; insists on the importance of building more resilient supply chains in the post-pandemic world in both the EU and the AU by reinforcing strategic autonomy, identifying dependencies, better addressing vulnerabilities and supply disruptions, diversifying production and investing more in game-changing enterprises that have integrated social, environmental and health objectives into their business models; recalls Parliament’s commitment to the European Green Deal and trade initiatives aimed at achieving its objectives, including but not limited to the carbon border adjustment mechanism, the legislative proposal on mandatory due diligence, and the proposal on deforestation-free products; insists that the Commission must carefully monitor the impact of these initiatives on EU-Africa trade and present accompanying measures to mitigate any short-term disruption; is convinced that in the long term, these legislative initiatives will result in more resilient and sustainable global value chains, benefiting citizens and businesses in both the EU and Africa; |

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|  | 29. | Regrets the major impact of the unprovoked and unjustified Russian Federation invasion of Ukraine on the increased price of energy, fuels, raw materials and agricultural products, causing a severe increase in production costs which is jeopardising production continuity and may lead to supply chain disruptions; calls for reinforced action at international level to ensure that policy decision-making has food security at its core, in order to avoid scarcity and ensure nutritional security in the most vulnerable countries, particularly on the African continent, and to address food security by trade means and prevent obstacles to international trade in food and raw materials; |

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|  | 30. | Believes that the EU can contribute to significantly reducing Africa’s current dependence on imports of food, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides through financial and technical support, policy dialogue, knowledge exchange and new technologies and by promoting African innovation; |

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|  | 31. | Calls for a large-scale European-African investment offensive that provides incentives for a significant increase in private investment in African states and enables comprehensive public investment in infrastructure and in combating climate change; welcomes, in this context, the commitment made at the Sixth AU-EU Summit to mobilise EUR 150 billion as part of the Global Gateway; calls for this investment initiative to be significantly expanded, together with the EU Member States; |

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|  | 32. | Calls for the investment offensive to focus primarily on projects to develop and expand renewable energies, secure water supplies and climate adjustment measures, and build public infrastructure; expects all investment projects to involve African partner companies and to pay close attention to creating local employment and deepening African value chains; calls on the Commission to identify appropriate investment projects in coordination with local, regional and state partners in Africa and to ensure their implementation; |

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|  | 33. | Calls for the EU and its Member States to make a commitment to support African countries in implementing ambitious and just climate action; stresses that EU financing under the new Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument must be used to champion a human-rights-based approach that makes local communities and indigenous peoples central to climate, environmental and development efforts, starting with civil society and community consultation; |

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|  | 34. | Notes that the previous blended finance mechanisms have not succeeded in stimulating sufficient private investment; calls, therefore, for the investment initiative to include local SMEs, which make a special contribution to the diversification of the economy and to the creation of employment; |

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|  | 35. | Stresses that the EU should deepen its economic and trade relations with Africa through investments that create decent jobs and promote human, labour and environmental rights; underlines the discrepancy in access to finance within African regions and countries, which is due to various factors; underlines that the emphasis should be placed on investments in new infrastructure, such as digital and green infrastructure, and renewable energy production; welcomes the Framework Project Cooperation Agreement signed in October 2021 between the EIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); welcomes the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2021 between the EBRD and the African Development Bank to promote sustainable private-sector development in Africa; calls on the Commission to foster investment in the African continent through innovative financial instruments to increase capital flows and reduce risks; encourages the EU and African countries to explore the negotiation of sustainable investment facilitation agreements, as announced in the EU Trade Policy Review [(15)](#ntr15-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0015), which enhance the capacity of governments to regulate in the public interest, and balance the rights and obligations of investors and communities with environmental concerns; recalls the key importance of consistent investment in public services, in research capabilities and in the promotion of economic sectors in which countries or regions have the potential to acquire a comparative advantage; recommends boosting investment opportunities in Africa, in particular by providing more risk capital and guarantees aimed at facilitating investments; welcomes the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) which allows development finance institutions to take more risk in their investment programmes; recalls that the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development highlighted the need to mobilise more domestic resources for achieving the SDGs; |

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|  | 36. | Encourages African countries, at a time when UNICA reports that many of the investment treaties concluded in the 1990s and early 2000s have recently expired or are about to expire, to review and reform their investment and double taxation treaties according to their development needs; believes that the AfCFTA and the ongoing regional integration efforts provide a good opportunity to rebalance the international investment regime so that it becomes responsible, equitable and conducive to sustainable development; |

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|  | 37. | Highlights that the agreement between the EU and the OACPS initialled in April 2021 lacks mechanisms to enforce due diligence on environmental standards, human rights and the principle of free prior and informed consent, which are even more vital given the agreement’s commitments to facilitate international investment agreements; stresses that the EU should take into account the different levels of development and ensure that its trade agreements are consistent with the regional economic integration priorities of the partners; |

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|  | 38. | Urges the Commission and the EIB, as the lending arm of the EU, to prepare an effective and easily accessible microcredit scheme and, in this connection, to strengthen its capacities to support private-sector development in Africa; calls on the EIB, in this regard, to dedicate more funds to African micro, small and medium-sized enterprises through the EFSD+ blended budget; underlines, in this context, the high potential of microfinancing to further empower SMEs and local farmers; recommends establishing microcredit schemes that would offer access to credit without the need for collateral or other financial guarantees; stresses the importance of such a scheme for the empowerment of women and young people, whose access to financing needs to be significantly improved; calls, in this regard, for appropriate accompanying measures, such as technical and legal assistance and counselling, as well as alliances with local partners on the ground, in order to make such microcredits truly accessible; considers that supporting the social economy and cooperatives, as well as microcredit schemes, will contribute to the much-needed formalisation of the informal economy, through clear strategies based on ILO Recommendation 204; |

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|  | 39. | Calls for the EU to increase its support to African countries and the AU for combating illicit financial flows and tax evasion by companies, and calls for initiatives to ensure that corporations do not contribute to such capital outflows from African countries; recalls that Africa loses about USD 88,6 billion in illicit capital flight every year, equivalent to 3,7 % of the continent’s GDP; calls for joint efforts to ensure that taxes are paid where profits and real economic value are created, in order to stop continued tax base erosion and profit-shifting; calls for increased cooperation between the AU and the EU and their member states in the international promotion of measures addressing corporate tax transparency issues, including improved cooperation with regard to the EU’s Non-Financial Reporting Directive [(16)](#ntr16-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0016); calls on the Commission to also address illicit financial flows and tax evasion in its AfT schemes and by including respective chapters when negotiating the modernisation of EPAs; |

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|  | 40. | Stresses that LDCs have an interest in and are strong supporters of rules-based multilateral trading systems and that their integration into the international trading system should be improved; is aware of the fact that special and differentiated treatment is a founding principle of the WTO; calls on the Commission to ensure that developing countries can fully exercise their rights under the WTO special and differential treatment provisions, most notably to ensure their food security; is of the opinion that overdependence on a single country or geographic region for any given product can leave countries vulnerable to external shocks, which could have a hugely damaging impact on the food security of developing countries; believes, therefore, that the Commission should support our African partners in diversifying their trade flows in order to increase their resilience; calls for joint efforts with the EU’s African partners at WTO level to find multilateral solutions for major divisions in global agricultural policy issues, as discussed in the WTO Agriculture Committee; |

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|  | 41. | Stresses the need for multilateral trade rules that are supportive of substantial and sustainable agriculture based on comprehensive agrarian reforms in various African states to be carried out in order to guarantee food security across the continent; stresses, in this regard, the importance of the protection and promotion of the right of local communities to have access to and control natural resources such as land and water; deplores the fact that land-grabbing is rife in Africa; is concerned by the scale of land acquisition by foreign investors in Africa, which is concentrated in countries with weaker governance structures, and could represent a threat to food security and access to land and water; stresses the importance of launching an inclusive process with the aim of guaranteeing the effective participation of civil society organisations and local communities in the development, implementation and monitoring of policies and actions related to land-grabbing; calls for the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure to be observed in all projects that promote the protection of land rights, including in trade, and also for measures to ensure that projects do not endanger the land rights of small-scale farmers, particularly women; urges the EU and Africa, furthermore, to recognise indigenous people’s rights to customary ownership and control of their lands and natural resources under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and ILO Convention 169, and to comply with the principle of free, prior and informed consent; |

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|  | 42. | Stresses that the trade partnership between the EU and Africa must safeguard the right of African countries to food sovereignty, ensure adherence to the principles of sustainability and should never undermine food security, food safety and food quality nor drive deforestation or degradation of the environment; stresses that this will require greater commitments on both continents and the boosting of safe, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems in order to increase the efforts to reach the SDG of zero hunger in 2030 and support joint action to mitigate climate change; identifies a need to restructure value chains so that more of the processing and value-adding parts of production take place in source countries; reiterates the importance of respect for products with protected designation of origin; calls on the Commission to ensure investment instruments, such as Global Gateway and Global Europe, contribute to the development of a sustainable agricultural sector in Africa in line with the SDGs, and to support the implementation of the AfCFTA for intra-African agricultural trade; calls on the Commission to facilitate education and training to advance and promote sustainable agricultural practices, such as agroecology, in Africa and to advance existing initiatives in Africa; recalls the fact that agroecology’s ability to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been recognised in landmark reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, as well as the World Bank and FAO-led International Assessment of Agricultural Science & Technology for Development; calls on the EU and Africa to play a leading role in the conclusion of an ambitious global agreement at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity; notes, in this context, that sustainable agriculture and more sustainable nutrition in Europe can make a significant contribution to ensuring food security in African countries; |

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|  | 43. | Underlines the asymmetrical dependence of some African countries on agricultural imports for food security; expresses its grave concern at the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the supply of certain agricultural food products, mainly cereals, in view of the significant dependence of many states on these imports, as well as global supply chain disruptions and price increases leading to global food insecurity, most notably on the African continent; welcomes the Commission’s decision to assess the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on cereal imports and food security and calls on the Commission to take early action against possible humanitarian crises; stresses, furthermore, the disruption which the armed conflict is causing to African exports to Russia of certain products, such as citrus fruits, coffee and tea; calls on the Commission to work with African countries to secure access to agricultural products, to use the existing trade toolbox to address and facilitate access to agricultural products for our African partners, and to support them in boosting their agricultural production in order to enhance their food resilience; |

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|  | 44. | Recalls that with EU agri-food exports to Africa valued at EUR 17,6 billion and imports from Africa valued at EUR 16,5 billion in 2020, African countries are important destinations for EU exports and the EU remains the biggest export market for agricultural and food products from Africa; draws attention to the need for imports from Africa, and especially agri-food products, to meet EU health, safety and quality standards, including those relating to the use of hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms; highlights that technical support and training should be offered to ensure that African producers have the opportunity and know-how to meet these standards; is convinced that the EU, as a major global player in the agri-food sector, should cooperate with African countries in further developing the benchmarks and international standards for sustainable food systems, based on respect for human and labour rights, fair competition, the precautionary principle, environmental protection and animal welfare, in accordance with WTO rules; points out that the EU is committed to supporting and promoting the global transition to sustainable agri-food systems with all its partners, in line with the objectives of the farm to fork strategy and the SDGs; points out that the EU and Africa share the objective of transforming the way we produce, distribute and consume our food; points out, therefore, that cooperation between the EU and its African partners must focus on the central issue of food supply, with tailored programmes for cooperation between EU and African farmers and SMEs, targeted investments in sustainable agricultural development, modern transport networks and appropriate storage infrastructure that provide African farmers with the means to make farming resistant to climate-related challenges; |

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|  | 45. | Advocates for stronger policy coherence at EU level in the context of agri-food trade, given the global implications of the common agricultural policy and agricultural trade on progress towards the achievement of the SDGs; calls for the EU to take into account the conclusions of the Task Force Rural Africa on the need for investment in African food chains, with a focus on value-added commodities; calls on the EU and its Member States to actively work with African partners to create synergies between the EU-Africa strategy and European Green Deal, in particular the external dimension of the farm to fork strategy; |

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|  | 46. | Underlines the importance of research and innovation in encouraging farmers to adopt sustainable agricultural practices and productive dry land agro-ecosystems and food systems; calls, in this regard, for stronger reliance on the contributions of African traditional knowledge to the just transition, especially regarding agricultural practices, fisheries and forest protection, thereby empowering the African people and local communities; |

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|  | 47. | Regrets the lack of recognition of the strategic importance of rangelands, which cover about 43 % of the African land surface and are therefore important carbon sinks; emphasises the importance of supporting small farms and pastoralism and other traditional/local food systems in order to strengthen their resilience and boost their contribution to food security, sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation; notes that, for example, grazing rights and community pastures are traditional land use rights based on common law and not on securitised property rights; calls on the Commission to develop, together with local communities and local stakeholders, a strategy to optimise their potential through sustainable grazing management such as that practised by pastoralists; calls for the social tensions between settled agricultural populations and nomadic pastoral communities to be addressed, notably in regions with overlapping ethno-religious conflicts; |

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|  | 48. | Recommends to turn around the unwelcome trend of increasing numbers of people suffering from food insecurity in Africa by integrating humanitarian, development and peacebuilding policies in conflict-affected areas, by scaling up climate resilience across food systems, by strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable to economic adversity, by intervening along food supply chains to lower the cost of nutritious foods and to increase the nutritional value of food products, by tackling poverty and structural inequalities, ensuring interventions are pro-poor and inclusive, and by strengthening food environments and changing consumer behaviour to promote, including by trade measures, dietary patterns with positive impacts on human health and the environment; underlines the need for sustainable and innovative policies that enable African states to ‘leapfrog’ older and more polluting technologies and agricultural practices with the goal of achieving an ecological and social transition to sustainable agri-food practices; highlights the central role played by the agricultural and food sectors in the African economy and in providing decent and sustainable job opportunities in rural areas in the many smallholdings or family farms through measures to enhance resilience, the sustainable modernisation of agricultural practices, improved product quality and product diversification; calls on the Commission to support local agricultural businesses and to increase the capability of small and family-owned farms to compete with large-scale corporate farms; is concerned about the increasing expansion of those highly industrialised farms that are based on monocultures, which contribute to deepening social inequalities and soil erosion and the ongoing loss of biodiversity; emphasises the importance of farmers for the strengthening of circular economies within the various African regions; welcomes the proposal of the Task Force for Rural Africa for the establishment of a EU-Africa twinning programme linking agricultural bodies of EU Member States and partner countries in Africa through which committed and comparable partners would be able to share best practices and knowledge; |

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|  | 49. | Underlines that the use of pesticides in intensive agriculture in Africa can have an impact on the health of workers who have very little access to training on plant protection and healthcare, in addition to causing environmental damage; calls for education and training in sustainable plant protection approaches and alternatives to pesticides and for the minimisation of exposure to hazardous substances; denounces the double standards applied by the EU regarding pesticides by allowing the export of hazardous substances that are banned in the EU to African countries and other non-EU countries; asks, therefore, for the current EU rules to be amended in order to eliminate this legal incoherence, in line with the Rotterdam Convention of 1998 and the European Green Deal; |

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|  | 50. | Stresses the need to help African countries to reduce the use of pesticides banned in the EU through the development of alternative systems for pest control; highlights the inconsistency of the EU in allowing exports to African and other non-EU countries of pesticides that are not permitted in the EU single market; calls for the swift ending of this inconsistency, as it completely contradicts the spirit of the European Green Deal; |

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|  | 51. | Points out that in comparison with other regions of the world, the distribution of added value in agricultural value chains is mostly unfavourable for African smallholders, as can be observed in the effects of market concentration on farmers and countries producing cocoa; welcomes the initiative by Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to set up a living income differential for cocoa; welcomes the setting up of the EU Sustainable Cocoa Initiative and calls on the Commission to encourage private-sector-wide commitments to pay fair prices to cocoa farmers that enable them to produce sustainably, without child labour; recalls that EU-African trade relations and initiatives, like the one on cocoa, must rely on transparent and reliable monitoring and accountability; calls for the multi-stakeholder approach to be ensured via specific mechanisms to involve civil society in the development of strategies and sectoral policies; shares the views expressed by the Cocoa Coalition that the EU’s due diligence legislation in preparation, including the regulation on deforestation, should aim to deliver living incomes for cocoa farmers as an essential step in achieving a sustainable cocoa sector; |

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|  | 52. | Is concerned that the EU’s trade policy towards Africa is very fragmented; reiterates that the different EPAs should contribute to the development of intra-African integration and a fair and sustainable trade model and to reducing poverty; observes that the viewpoints regarding the evaluation of the success of the EPAs differ, with some in the EU and Africa arguing that the EPAs concluded or negotiated in the last decade do not sufficiently meet the requirements of a new partnership and were primarily aimed at enforcing EU interests, observing that EU exports to the EPA states have been detrimental to local production, especially in the agricultural sector, regretting that important EPA goals such as diversifying value chains and promoting regional integration in Africa have not been achieved, with the main exports remaining agricultural products and raw materials, and considering this, furthermore, to be one reason for the frequent criticism or even rejection of the EPAs in many African states, while others in the EU and the AU argue that EPAs contribute to and promote sustainable development in line with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, reduce poverty, foster intra-African trade flows, improve regional integration, contribute to trade facilitation and the removal of unnecessary barriers to trade, increase market access for businesses to the EU and African markets, most notably for SMEs, promote public and private investments in Africa, promote good and sustainable agricultural practices, and foster trade relations between the EU and Africa, taking into account the outcomes of the EU-AU Summit, and while they also believe that in order to fully play this role and be conducive to the integration of EU and African value chains, the EPAs would have to be implemented and modernised to include provisions that support cross-border value chains, including additional areas such as the services trade, investment, intellectual property rights and competition, which would reassure businesses and investors about the business environment in those countries; |

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|  | 53. | Considers that EPAs should improve the ability of African countries to exploit trade opportunities in the areas of food security, healthcare and poverty reduction; |

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|  | 54. | Recalls that the EU request to ban export taxes on raw materials has been a long-lasting stumbling block in the negotiation process on EPAs; stresses that for those economies which almost exclusively base their revenues on the exploitation of natural resources, prohibiting such taxes may lock them in aid dependency, while hampering their economic diversification; stresses the right of African countries to regulate raw materials in their public interest and calls for the EU to refrain from adopting a trade policy that, as a general rule, prohibits African countries from levying export taxes on raw materials, insofar as it is WTO-compatible; |

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|  | 55. | Reiterates its request for an in-depth analysis of the impact of EPAs on local economies, regional integration, economic diversification and the SDGs to be carried out before new EPAs are negotiated; calls for EPAs to be modernised by adding strong, binding and enforceable trade and sustainable development (TSD) chapters aligned with the Paris Agreement; calls on the Commission, in this context, to work with our African partners to advance fair and sustainable trade, notably through TSD chapters in EPAs, and to work with our partners on the upcoming TSD review; stresses, furthermore, the importance of including the objective of combating forced labour and child labour in TSD chapters of Union trade agreements, given their prevalence in the agricultural sector; calls for systematic, transparent and evidenced-based monitoring by all stakeholders, including EU and African civil society and communities, local authorities and national parliaments, of the implementation of EU-African trade agreements and for compliance with the principles of policy coherence for development and of policy coherence for sustainable development; calls for an in-depth analysis on the impact of existing EPAs and trade agreements on African countries to determine the extent to which they are compatible with efforts to support the AfCFTA process and continental integration in Africa and the need for them to be consistent with the SDGs and Article 208 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; calls for an adjustment of EPA provisions to be pursued, depending on the results; calls on the Commission, when reviewing EPAs, to, where appropriate, address, mitigate and avoid any potential effect that could impair the objectives of the development of the intra-African market, in close cooperation with our African partners; emphasises that EPAs need to support the further development of the AfCFTA; calls on the Commission to ensure EPAs are a basis for the strengthening of economic relations between the parties in a mutually beneficial way, taking into account their respective levels of development; calls on the Commission to pay special attention to SMEs, and to support African SMEs who export to the EU with technical assistance; notes that in order to make the EPAs more attractive, additional elements need to be covered by the agreements, such as capacity building, encouraging women to participate in the economy, including in agriculture, and investing in the opportunities for young people in African countries; |

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|  | 56. | Recalls that the implementation of sustainability chapters must be accompanied in parallel by capacity building through the EU’s development assistance and other investments to assist partner countries in honouring their commitments [(17)](#ntr17-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0017), and that civil society stakeholders should be involved in monitoring [(18)](#ntr18-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0018); |

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|  | 57. | Welcomes the reform of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Regulation [(19)](#ntr19-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0019) and its role in increasing trade opportunities, facilitating export diversification for developing countries, advancing sustainable development and ensuring respect for human rights, labour rights, environmental protection, sustainable development, good governance and gender equality; notes that several African countries will graduate from LDC status in the near future and highlights the need to support their smooth transition to GSP status; is of the opinion that these countries would benefit from GSP+ status and encourages them to consider applying, while calling on the Commission to proactively approach these potential candidates and offer them support in working towards meeting the criteria, and to ensure a smooth transition from LDC to GSP+ partner country status; calls on the Commission to ensure the GSP is complementary to other trade policy initiatives on the African continent; calls on the countries in the region benefiting from the GSP and Everything but Arms schemes to work to strengthen the effective implementation of their international commitments; |

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|  | 58. | Calls for increased investment in research and development related to green goods and technologies; calls on the Commission to take the necessary steps to ensure that the implementation of the future EU corporate sustainability due diligence and deforestation-free rules encourage long-term sourcing relationships and improved purchasing practices, ensuring a living wage for workers and a living income for smallholder farmers and ensuring respect for the environment and meaningful stakeholder engagement, including of rights holders, in all steps of the due diligence process; recalls that Africa is home to exceptional biodiversity; expresses its deep concern about overexploitation of natural resources and the impact of reduced biodiversity on resilience levels; is particularly concerned that the pace of deforestation is increasing in Africa, notably in the Congo basin, which in 2020 was second only to Brazil in terms of primary forest loss, and in Cameroon, and is also concerned about the smuggling of rare wildlife species; points out that African rainforest destruction leads to irreversible biodiversity and carbon sink losses, as well as of the homes and ways of life of indigenous communities; recalls that forests contribute significantly to reaching climate targets, protecting biodiversity and preventing desertification and extreme soil erosion; highlights the role of water as a key building block for social and economic resilience, especially in the context of food and nutrition security, and the fact that water is at risk of becoming a scarce resource; believes, therefore, that greater importance should be accorded to the supply of water; stresses that desertification and locust swarms have exacerbated the already difficult food security situation in Africa and that the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic and logistics problems have shone a spotlight on the potential for local and regional markets to address vulnerabilities and shortcomings in the global food system; considers that a trade partnership must be based on models and technologies that are well-adapted to African countries’ agricultural models, economies and crops and on collaboration, notably through training and exchanges of knowledge, giving farmers ownership, independence and the right of initiative; |

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|  | 59. | Stresses the importance of cities and towns in promoting the spirit of fair trade; commends the Commission for launching the EU Cities for Fair and Ethical Trade Award; commends Vice-President and Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis for his commitment to continue this important initiative; calls on the Commission to seek cooperation with the AU Commission to enhance direct cooperation between cities and towns in both continents, in order to promote fair and ethical trade relations and to increase the visibility of the many respective initiatives of city councils; |

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|  | 60. | Believes that now more than ever after the COVID-19 pandemic, on a global level, and especially with regard to Africa, new approaches should be taken for economic, commercial and trade relations based on fair and ethical trade and on the principles of solidarity and cooperation; |

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|  | 61. | Welcomes the declaration agreed by the meeting of leaders of local and regional governments of the member states of the AU and the EU on 15 February 2022 in Brussels, which emphasised inter alia that without the engagement of local and regional governments, 65 % of the 169 targets underpinning the SDGs will not be reached; |

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|  | 62. | Welcomes the agreement of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers on common rules of origin for the bloc for 87,7 % of goods or 3 800 tariff lines covered by the AfCFTA; calls on the European Commission to harmonise the rules of origin and to develop a proposal for unified rules of origin for trade with all African countries, based on the rules recently agreed within the AfCFTA, to replace the patchwork of rules of origin in the different trade agreements and arrangements of the EU with African regions and countries; is convinced that this would also be to the benefit of EU companies and customs authorities; calls on the Commission to explore further possibilities and measures to enhance links and synergies between the EU’s different trade arrangements with African countries and the AfCFTA; welcomes the AfCFTA’s goal of improving regional differentiation and the expansion and interconnection of infrastructure systems; calls on the EU to engage with the AfCFTA Secretariat to advance capacity building and technical support for the implementation of the AfCFTA; |

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|  | 63. | Welcomes the fact that in November 2021, the EIB opened its first hub in Africa, in Kenya’s capital Nairobi; |

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|  | 64. | Appreciates the initiative by the Council and the Commission to organise the first Africa-Europe Week, which was held in February 2022 in Brussels; welcomes the fruitful work of several thousand representatives from youth organisations, civil society organisations, local authorities, the cultural sector and the business sector; stresses that better EU engagement with young Africans and the African diaspora in the EU could structurally improve the EU-Africa relationship in the long term; regrets, in this context, that the European Parliament was not more involved and that the events took place during Parliament’s plenary week in Strasbourg, and underscores the importance of promoting, ahead of upcoming initiatives, greater cooperation between all stakeholders, including business organisations; calls on the Commission to organise the Africa-Europe Week on an annual basis, and to include young people, especially women and girls, in discussions organised during the Africa-Europe Week; |

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|  | 65. | Calls on the Commission to focus future editions of the EU-Africa Business Summit on the potential that local economic and sustainable production alternatives, such as organic and fair trade products, smallholder farmer cooperatives and social economy stakeholders, can play in building up a more sustainable and fair trading partnership between Africa and the EU; |

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|  | 66. | Stresses the necessity of increasing the involvement of stakeholders, in particular business associations of SMEs from across the African continent and increasingly important civil society organisations from both the EU and the AU, in the debates establishing the new dimension of trade, investment and economic cooperation, which is aimed at fair and ethical relationships; |

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|  | 67. | Notes that transport networks are critical enablers of trade and prosperous economies; stresses the need to better connect African rural and urban areas to ensure greater interconnectedness within African countries and the African continent; stresses that Team Europe proposals for the realisation of infrastructure projects must build on the needs identified by the AU in the Programme for Infrastructure Development for Africa; calls, in this regard, for local and regional stakeholders to be involved in the decision-making process on the nature and volume of infrastructure projects; recalls the fact that an estimated 53 % of roads in Africa are unpaved and are isolated from trade hubs, and that less than half of the population in rural areas has access to functional roads all year round, which illustrates the need to invest not only in flagship projects; also calls for investments in cold chain logistics and modern storage facilities and generally improved logistics between production and consumption locations that enable farmers to deliver their agricultural products over certain distances, also given the rapid urbanisation of Africa, thus contributing to ending food insecurity; notes that a functioning transport network and investments in infrastructure projects can contribute to the development of African economies; calls on the European Commission to facilitate investment in African infrastructural projects through its trade and investment instruments for Africa; |

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|  | 68. | Encourages a broad debate with the aim of reconsidering models and plans to develop infrastructure and to identify alternative mobility models and 21st century modern mobility solutions for everybody within the regions as well as across the continent, based on lessons learned in the EU and other industrialised countries, in order to avoid mistakes made there; |

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|  | 69. | Stresses that education and professional training that provide people with the skills required by the labour market are key factors for development; believes, in this context, that cooperation between universities, research institutions and vocational education and training programmes from both continents need to be strengthened; is of the opinion, in that regard, that private-sector-driven vocational education and training initiatives and entrepreneurship in Africa should be supported and better coordinated, as the pandemic has emphasised the importance of both digital skills and digital learning methods; |

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|  | 70. | Shares the long-term vision of creating a comprehensive EU-Africa continent-to-continent trade, cooperation and development agreement, building on the AfCFTA; underlines that a continent-to-continent trade and cooperation agreement must be preceded by the meaningful development of a robust and resilient intra-African market; stresses, in this regard, the role of the EU’s trade policy engagement with Africa in the development of the intra-African market; calls on the European Commission to regularly update Parliament on the long-term objective of a continent-to-continent trade and cooperation agreement, notably through the various policy instruments related to Africa; |

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|  | 71. | Calls for the responsible and swift implementation of the commitments on trade and investment agreed at the 2022 EU-AU Summit, and calls on the European Commission to structurally report to Parliament on the implementation of the commitments on trade and investment by the relevant committees; |

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|  | 72. | Welcomes the EU’s Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative and its continued support for the African Single Electricity Market; stresses that access to energy must be guaranteed at an affordable price to everyone as a common good and a basic right, and that access to energy and the future energy demand are key issues that the EU and Africa should address together; notes the need to leverage the new renewable and low carbon energy potential in Africa and invest in sectors with higher added value, such as green steel and green hydrogen, notably by improving technology cooperation and increasing clean energy exports; points out that technical assistance regarding energy market legislation is needed and should be provided through EU-African cooperation, as well as the development of common standards; points out that sustainable energy cooperation should be one the main features of the Global Gateway with regard to Africa; welcomes the commitment under the Global Gateway to mobilise EUR 2,4 billion in grants for sub-Saharan Africa and EUR 1,08 billion for North Africa to support renewable energy, energy efficiency, the just transition and the greening of local value chains; calls for a gender-smart investment approach in the energy sector that would empower women as energy leaders, workers and consumers; |

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|  | 73. | Insists on the importance of building partnerships to improve the sustainability of raw material value chains, building on the critical raw materials action plan and making use of all EU external policy instruments; |

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|  | 74. | Calls for the link between public health and biodiversity to be taken into account, in line with the UN One Health approach, and welcomes the announcement of the NaturAfrica initiative, which aims to protect wildlife and ecosystems in Africa and the review of the action plan against wildlife trafficking; notes that academic literature has located some global hotspots for emerging zoonotic diseases in Africa; recommends developing and incorporating pandemic and emerging disease health risk impact assessments in major development and land use projects facilitated by the renewed partnership between the EU and the AU and reforming financial aid for land use so that benefits and risks to biodiversity and health are recognised and explicitly targeted; invites the Commission to explore the possibility of issuing guidance for EU companies and investors active in Africa in relation with the future directive for sustainable corporate due diligence [(20)](#ntr20-C_2023032EN.01007401-E0020); calls on the EU and the AU to push for a new intergovernmental health and trade partnership aimed at reducing zoonotic disease risks in the international wildlife trade; stresses that the NaturAfrica initiative should be developed in consultation with all stakeholders, with particular attention paid to the rights of local communities, indigenous peoples and women; underlines that it should support African governments and local populations in tackling major drivers of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation in a holistic and systematic way, including by offering support for well-managed protected area networks; calls for the inclusion of ambitious biodiversity-related provisions inspired by the UN One Health approach when modernising EPAs; considers that the EU should contribute to the realisation of the Great Green Wall in the Sahel region, which will significantly contribute to putting a halt to further desertification and will thereby safeguard incomes from agriculture; |

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|  | 75. | Underlines that human rights and gender equality must be at the centre of the reinforced cooperation between the EU and the AU, with a special focus on the impact of emerging and innovative technologies on human rights and the inclusion of women in the economy; stresses the potential digital trade can have for advancing and improving trade facilitation in Africa, and calls on the Commission to advance digital capabilities to facilitate the implementation of EPAs and the implementation of the AfCFTA; calls on the Commission to consider the EU-AU digital agenda in its engagement with its global strategic partners; |

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|  | 76. | Notes that knowledge sharing and skills development within Africa can contribute to the development of a sustainable trade relationship; underlines the potential that digital infrastructure has to stimulate the African economy and drive innovation on the continent; calls for reinforced cooperation on EU-AU digital agendas based on the principles of democratic governance, supportive multilateral rules on e-commerce, effective regulatory mechanisms across the digital domain and global-to-local governance mechanisms for data and digital infrastructure that place people-centred development at their core; takes note of the creation of the AU-EU Digital Economy Task Force; stresses that EU-AU digital relations should promote Africa’s drive for digital transformation and respect the right of governments to maintain data ownership and regulate their digital economy according to their development needs and with a view to achieving a more balanced digital world; calls on the EU to support the digital upscaling of African countries with the help of UNCTAD platforms created to secure sustainable development gains from digital transformations; emphasises that digital transformation must be consistent with the principles of data protection; |

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|  | 77. | Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the African Union, the governments and parliaments of the member states of the African Union and the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA. |

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