Ethiopia hosts African Union, European Union meeting

February 27, 2020
Ethiopia hosts African Union, European Union meeting

Addis Ababa, Feb 27 (Prensa Latina) The 10th joint meeting of the African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) commissions opened on Thursday in Addis Ababa, in the presence of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Von der Leyen traveled to Ethiopia accompanied by 20 EU commissioners, including High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Spanish Josep Borrell, with the purpose of establishing strategies to strengthen relations and ties with Africa.

The program began at the AU headquarters with a plenary session and then participants will start discussions in commissions on employment, the environmental and technological revolution, peace and security, governance and migration, among other issues.

The meeting will also establish an opportunity so that EU and AU discuss the next Integration Strategy for Africa, which, as von der Leyen promised, should have been written before the meeting and will be presented in early March.

The presentation of the document will initiate a broad consultation that will lead to the Ministerial Meeting, to be held in May 2020 in Kigali, Rwanda, and the EU-AU Summit, in October 2020 in Brussels, Belgium, where programs to face common challenges should be agreed.

ndoor and outdoor pollution are currently the most significant environmental contributors to premature death in Africa. In an event organized by the Environmental Protection and Green Development Commission of Addis Ababa to discuss the city’s draft Air Quality Management Plan, Chargé d’affaires David Renz said, “It’s possible to tackle the challenge of protecting and improving air quality while also sustaining the rapid economic growth that will take Addis Ababa and its residents to a new level of economic success.” Over two years, the U.S. government has invested over $700,000 in monitoring and analyzing air quality data in Addis Ababa to support this plan.