madam president it is true that achieving the millennium development goals and overcoming poverty remain at the heart of europe's partnership with africa
at the same time our relations go far beyond that
the cooperation opportunities of the two continents are enormous
earlier this month the commission presented proposals on how to consolidate our relationship by adding strength to it and focusing on inclusive and sustainable growth in the long term
the summit in tripoli will be an excellent occasion to discuss ways of improving our cooperation in this respect
the commission believes that there is a need to enhance political and policy dialogue beyond traditional development scenarios
the eu and africa must cooperate bilaterally and also work together on the international stage to promote our shared interest tackling climate change making progress towards the mdgs and promoting peace and security democratic governance and human rights
this aim is to ensure that both sides can jointly address the global challenges that will dominate the summit agenda and prepare the ground for a more effective and mutually-beneficial cooperation
given the summit's focus on investment growth and job creation we also need to agree on how to work together to overcome the repercussions of the economic and financial crisis
this will notably require promoting a more business- and investment-friendly environment
it will be the occasion to look into promising areas such as renewable energies information and communication technologies science and others
these are the areas where african demands are huge and where at the same time europe has a lot to offer
we can also build on joint successes so far peace and security and regional integration
this ambitious agenda requires building on the success of the lisbon summit in two thousand and seven and on the results achieved since then by the joint africa-eu strategy and its first action plan
drawing from the lessons learned the communication also calls for both sides to do more to overcome the current fragmentation of policy frameworks and financial instruments
better synergies between eu policies notably with sub-saharan africa and the mediterranean region should be found to ensure real coherence and increased effectiveness and visibility
better internal coordination with member states and the active involvement of all stakeholders parliament civil society the private sector are also needed
in order to deliver better results the action plan for twenty eleven twenty thirteen should give priority to activities that have a clear regional continental or global added value
the summit will be an excellent opportunity to plot our way forward
it will also require changes on the european side and that will require us to improve the way the eu steers its relations with africa
i believe we will need to continue this debate after the summit but i am very much looking forward to the debate today so that we will be well prepared for the summit
