European Union" "
A new chapter has been opened in the institutional promotion of Euro-African dialogue between the European Union and the five African countries responsible for promoting the action programme for the development of the entire continent: South Africa, Senegal, Algeria, Egypt and Zambia. The dialogue begun between the representatives of the EU and the African heads of state in Brussels at the beginning of October was consolidated in London, in the headquarters of the Canadian High Commission, at the end of the month. At the same time, various pilot projects were formulated; they will be presented to the next G8 scheduled to be held in Canada, in June/July 2002. “There will a further five meetings between the London meeting and the Canadian summit in June/July during which Euro-African cooperation will continue to be reinforced”, explained a spokesman of the Foreign Office in London. The new African initiative (NAI) aims to eradicate poverty in the continent by placing the focus on democracy, transparency, the efficient management of public affairs, the State of law and human rights. The decision to hold a new meeting of the NAI in London was taken at the G8 in Genoa. Meeting in Brussels in early October, the African heads of state Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), Abdoulayé Wade (Senegal), Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Algeria), Osni Mubarak (Egypt) and the acting president of the OAU/AU Frederik Jacob Titus Chiluba (Zambia) had presented a global plan of action, conceived to tackle the internal problems and reinforce external cooperation. On the ocasion of this meeting the president of the European Council Guy Verhofstadt had explained that the EU supports the African initiative because it is based on the ideas of the African leaders themselves and embodies the concept of “Africanity”. It also strikes the right balance between prevention of conflict, aid to the various countries, trade, investment and debt relief, is applicable to the whole of the African continent, and gives cooperation the place it deserves. During the meeting at the end of October, the objective of eradicating poverty from Africa with the aid of the European Union was reaffirmed. The idea of an African Union, based on regional integration, as a way of advancing the NAI project, was also supported.
