Rabat – Morocco is participating in the second ministerial preparatory meeting prior to the next European Union-African Union Summit in Kigali, Rwanda.
The preparatory meetings will prepare for the upcoming inter-regional summit, scheduled to take place in February in Brussels, Belgium.
Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, is representing the kingdom at the preparatory meeting.
The meetings are co-chaired by the Congolese FM, Christophe Lutundula, whose country currently chairs the AU, and the EU representative for Foreign Affairs, Security Policy and VP of the European Commission, Josep Borrell.
The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, will also attend the meeting.
The meeting will see the participation of around 500 delegates, including over 60 foreign affairs ministers from the European Union and the African Union.
The objective of the meeting is for ministers to discuss the EU-AU partnership, as well as explore possible methods that would strengthen cooperation, according to a press release.
There will be discussions covering various topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic response and recovery.
Other areas of interest include digital and green transitions investments, peace, security and global governance, migration and mobility, education, science, technology and skills development.
Participants will aim to identify common priorities, shared challenges, and the most important opportunities for the common agenda to be agreed upon at the next EU-AU Summit in early 2022
The meeting was initially scheduled for May 2020, but was postponed due to COVID-19 related restrictions.
This ministerial meeting will serve as an opportunity for Morocco to continue to work in collaboration with its African partners, in order to contribute to the stability and sustainable development of Africa.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Bourita is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several African and European Ministers of Foreign Affairs, according to Moroccan state media, MAP.
