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EU Presidency Statement - General Debate on Africa

EU Presidency Statement by HE Adam Thomson, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom, on behalf of the European Union at the UN General Assembly Debate on Africa, 13 - 14 October 2005, New York

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

Mr President,

The European Union is committed to playing a leading role in helping to meet the special needs of Africa. I should like this morning to identify some of the ways in which the European Union hopes that the African development agenda can be taken forward over the coming months. The 2005 UN World Summit outcome document underlines the commitment of the global community to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, in addition to providing the Africa Partnership Forum with the principles of a joint framework to ensure delivery of both international and African commitments to the continent. These advances represent a partnership between all of us. And both these developments provide us with a substantive basis on which to build further, including creating an environment, at the national and global levels, conducive to the development of the whole African continent. As our Heads of State and Government agreed, peace and security, development and human rights are inter-linked and mutually reinforcing.

I will start with trade, a powerful engine for development and achieving the MDGs. The European Union looks forward to working closely with partners towards success in the Doha Development Agenda, in particular in the run-up to the crucial WTO Hong Kong Ministerial meeting in December. We believe that it will be possible - and crucial - for substantial progress to be made in Hong Kong to bring the Doha Round to an early and successful conclusion in all areas of negotiation. With a comprehensive, pro-development agenda, combining trade liberalisation with rule-making and complementary aid for trade and trade-related assistance, the Doha Round can bring benefits to all trading partners - and in particular, developing countries. We also believe that it is important to make progress in the area of regional integration, which accounts for a substantial element of the income generated by trade.

Preferential market access remains important, in particular for the poorest countries, many of which are in Africa. The EU market remains the most open, and the most important, for developing country exports globally. Our Everything But Arms scheme has, since 2001, provided duty-free and quota-free market access to all LDC exports. And the Cotonou Agreement provides preferential market access to the EU by African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Since 1980, trade between the EU and developing countries has more than tripled and one fifth of all developing country exports now go to the EU; 97% of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries' exports to the EU enter duty-free, and tariff escalation is virtually non-existent.

Africa also needs greater support for trade capacity-building, to maximise the opportunities created. The European Union is already the world's biggest provider of trade-related assistance. To help developing countries fully exploit market access opportunities, the European Community this summer pledged to increase such assistance to 1 billion Euro per year.

Mr President,

Let me turn to aid. The EU currently provides almost half of all the money spent to help developing countries. As part of a comprehensive approach to our international assistance, the EU is committed to providing more and better aid, multilateral debt relief and complementary innovative sources of finance, to help meet the Millennium Development Goals. At present, four out of the five countries which exceed the UN target for ODA of 0.7% of GNI are members of the EU. In June of this year, the EU adopted a new collective target of 0.56% by 2010, and an undertaking to achieve a 0.7% target by 2015 (0.33% for EU member states who joined after 2002). This landmark agreement should double EU aid from current levels to over $80 billion by 2010. At least half of this aid will go to Africa.

To ensure that this huge increase in funds is used effectively, the European Council will agree a new Africa strategy by December of this year:

• This will be a strategy of the whole EU: the Union, its institutions and the member states;
  
• It will apply to the whole of Africa, not just to Africa south of the Sahara.
  
• The primary aim will be the achievement the Millennium Development Goals across Africa;
  
• It will encompass development, security and human rights;
  
• It will be based on the principles of African ownership, equality and mutual accountability;
  
• And it will launch a new EU/Africa strategic partnership, setting the course of the relationship for the long term.

Mr President,

To deliver a better deal for the citizens of Africa, a key theme of this strategy will be support and help to develop strong African institutions. This will include a package of financial and practical help to build the capacity of the African Union, NEPAD and of Africa's sub-regional and national institutions. In particular:

• We support the African Peer Review Mechanism, and its Secretariat Trust Fund, enabling African states to monitor each other's performance, and we hope to see this process moving forward in 2006;
  
• We are providing EU electoral observation missions to monitor elections and to help promote the adoption of ever better electoral standards and practice;
  
• We will support the Africa Union in its endeavours to strengthen better governance, regional integration and poverty reduction in Africa through its economic and social programmes, including NEPAD;
  
• We will support efforts to enhance the capacity of the Africa Union and regional economic communities by providing programme support, in co-operation with other donors;
  
• We will work to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms by strengthening EU/African co-operation within the international human rights system, and by supporting the machinery for the protection of human rights;
  
• We will work for implementation of the rule of law - as a basis for respect for human rights, democracy and development - by providing support for institution-building.

Further, to ensure that Africa's wealth benefits its people, the EU will continue to support, both politically and financially, African states that tackle corruption. The EU-Africa Strategy will ensure that aid will flow increasingly towards well-governed countries, while paying attention to all vulnerable states. And all EU member states will commit to early ratification of the UN Convention on Corruption, and the enactment of laws to return stolen assets.

Mr President,

HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria account for six million deaths each year in the developing world. We must all work urgently to address the impact of these major communicable diseases, through strengthened health systems that enable an integrated approach of prevention, treatment, care and research. All these require greater resources if Africa is to achieve the MDGs. The EU Programme for Action, announced earlier this year, outlines our future strategy for combating HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. We are committed to the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment and care by 2010. The EU is a major contributor to the development, and effective implementation, of evidence-based malaria control programmes, and of working to increase the affordability of anti-malarial medicines. The EU is supporting research for better malaria drugs and an effective vaccine. Some EU member states are currently working with partners to develop an advance market commitment for a malaria vaccine. The European Union is a strong supporter of the Roll-Back Malaria Partnership and the work of the World Health Organisation, both vital to scaling up the international response to malaria.

EU Member States and the European Commission were founding members of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. To date, we have pledged US$4.5 billion, more than half of all money pledged to the Fund. Almost two thirds of the Fund's money goes to sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr President,

The EU welcomes African resolve to tackle problems of insecurity and instability on the continent. Over the past few years, the African Union has sought to transform and develop African security architecture through the establishment of its Peace and Security Council, plans for a Panel of the Wise and a continental early warning system, and progress towards an African stand-by force. This commitment was reinforced at the African Union Summit in Sirte this year, where leaders committed, as you will recall, to "addressing conflict and political instability on the continent, with the aim of achieving a conflict-free Africa by 2010 by prioritising and allocating more resources to conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building". The EU is fully committed to these efforts, and to playing a full part in the ten-year plan for capacity-building with the African Union, which was called for by the World Summit just a few weeks ago. The European Union will continue its dialogue with the African Union with a view to establishing institutional linkages and to defining a comprehensive operational agenda, particularly on peace and security. In this context, the timely holding of a second EU/Africa Summit, as foreseen in the Cairo Declaration, remains an important objective of the EU/Africa dialogue. The EU also welcomes commitments made by the G8 to support African capacity for peace and security.

One of the EU's main tools for supporting African efforts in peace and security is the Africa Peace Facility, a 250 million euro instrument to finance African-led peace support operations in Africa. Operated and staffed by Africans, it will build longer-term capacity at the African Union and sub-regional African institutions to prevent, manage and resolve crises. So far, the Peace Facility has supported the AU leadership in Darfur, through providing over 92 million euros to AMIS (the African Union Mission in Sudan). The EU has also provided 6 million Euros to the AU's Peace and Security Department, for their capacity-building plans. And we are currently considering how we might continue to provide support to African-led missions in the future, through the African Peace Facility.

But the partnership between the EU and the AU on peace and security should not only be about money. In the future, the EU and the AU also hope to increase co-operation in areas such as planning and management capacity, and information-sharing on doctrine and standards and logistical support. In this context, it is worth noting the EU's support for Sudan and the DRC in the framework of the European Security and Defence Policy. The EU will also continue working with African and other international partners to check the flow of unregulated arms on the continent. There is also a need to ensure that EU and AU capacities can co-ordinate and mesh with the capacities of the UN.

Mr President,

It would not be right to end without mentioning the Peacebuilding Commission, one of the biggest prizes to come out of the World Summit, and a major priority for both Africa and Europe. The experience of the EcoSoc ad hoc advisory groups for African countries emerging from conflict has demonstrated the central role that post-conflict peacebuilding plays in ensuring a smooth transition to stability and development. For too long, the international community's efforts at peacebuilding, in Africa and elsewhere, have been marked by piecemeal and unco-ordinated interventions, often lacking national ownership. The result is that about a half of post-conflict countries relapse into conflict within a decade. We have a moral, political and economic duty to improve our approach and to help these countries establish a lasting, sustainable peace. The Peacebuilding Commission will be the forum for all relevant actors in peacebuilding, so that co-ordination and delivery is improved. It will keep the political spotlight on fragile countries as they make the transition to development, and it will be a means to help mobilise sustained funding for peacebuilding. We must push forward and agree the modalities of the Peacebuilding Commission quickly, so that it can be ready to work by 31 December 2005. We must do this not least for Africa's sake.

More generally, the whole UN system should play an important role in supporting African development to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and create security and sustainability throughout the continent. This includes agency work at the country level as well as the activities of the principal organs including the General Assembly and the Security Council. A reformed Economic and Social Council also has an important role to play, particularly in promoting and monitoring the implementation of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.

Mr President,

The European Union is proud of its record of partnership with Africa. We will continue to work tirelessly with our friends and partners to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We remain convinced that the MDGs, whilst ambitious, are achievable. We are putting in place both the resources and the strategy needed to realise this ambition. And we look forward to the day when this challenge is met across the African continent.


* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process

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