The Portuguese presidency over the EU comes to an end, and its zenith was the EU-Africa summit held in Lisbon from the 7th to the 9th of December.
Just before the summit of the European and African Heads of State and Government, a Civil Society forum took place in Lisbon from the 15th to the 17th of November. Over 100 civil society representatives from Europe and Africa came to express the shared vision of partnership of the two continents. The priorities for the Portuguese presidency that the Portuguese NGDO platform chose in this context were addressed at the Civil Society Forum – Trade & Development, Governance, Migration & Development, Cooperation & Partnership.
As the final outcome of the Forum came a proactive political declaration that concerned the relations between Africa and Europe and this declaration was presented and received with great success at the EU-Africa summit on the 9th of December.
The declaration was especially well received at the African side and Alpha Konare, the Chair of the African Union Commission quoted it and praised the role civil society played at the summit. The lack of power equilibrium and the negative impact of Economic Partnership agreements, both issues addressed in the Declaration, were emphasised by the African delegates.
For more information and further reading, turn to the following websites/documents:
Article on the website of the Portuguese NGDO presidency project:
http://www.dialogoeuropafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=63&lang=en
Declaration of the Civil Society Forum:
http://www.dialogoeuropafrica.org/images/docs/Declaracao_politica_en.pdf
The Manifesto of the Portuguese NGDO presidency project:
http://www.dialogoeuropafrica.org/pdf/Manifesto_en.pdf
Article on the Civil Society Forum in the November CONCORD Flash:
http://www.concordeurope.org/Files/media/internetdocumentsENG/4_Publications/1_CONCORD_Flash/Flash%202007/November-Flash-EN.pdf
Information provided by Mirko Dautovic, TRIALOG intern
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment