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- The ongoing AU-EU summit being held in Brussels, yesterday (Thursday 17th February) discussed a number of Africa related economic issues to flag them before the international community
- The highlight of the event yesterday was the speech of President of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, who stressed the need for the African continent to strengthen its bond with the European Union
- This, he underlined, would lead to better progress and to the advantage of both regions
- The summit has brought together close to 40 leaders from different African countries
The ongoing AU-EU summit being held in Brussels, yesterday (Thursday 17th February) discussed a number of Africa related economic issues to flag them before the international community. The highlight of the event yesterday was the speech of President of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, who stressed the need for the African continent to strengthen its bond with the European Union. This, he underlined, would lead to better progress and to the advantage of both regions.
The summit has brought together close to 40 leaders from different African countries. The EU is seeking to solidify its economic partners around the world including Africa. Analysts maintain that these developments are happening, when Russia’s and China’s influence in Africa is growing at a phenomenal pace in the African region, which is viewed by the western forces as a threat to their influence in the region. It is also pertinent to point out that western forces could not cobble up a consensus approach towards Russia and China because of internal dissensions among them triggered by their sectarian economic interest.
The EU’s counter strategy is to send strong messages to the African region that they would pump in huge investments into the region. An estimated investment of close to US$ 170 billion may be channelized to the EU in the next seven years or so. Consultations among the EU have already been started in this direction. Also, the EU leaders may convince their African counterparts that the best way to progress would be by building strong democratic institutions and not through totalitarian regimes.
African leaders are keen to have a pragmatic and forward looking policy towards financing of fossil fuels. Senegalese President Macky Sall said there were still differences over the financing of fossil fuels. This is a sensitive issue to be sorted between the two regions. Africans want the EU to come out with a workable project financing such projects. There are speculations that this thorny issue would be sorted out and could be mentioned in the final declaration at the summit. There could be discussions relating to the debt burden of African countries and how the EU could be of any assistance to bring the debt level to sustainable levels since a good number of African countries are in debt trap.
There are efforts to highlight how the Chinese financing is coming with higher rates of interest and other hidden conditions. In the meantime, the African Union may suggest to the EU to intervene in getting the debt from the external private lenders retired or written off by empowering them for availing concessional loans from multilateral organizations like IMF and the World Bank.
