Abstract:

This roundtable explores current perspectives for African-European partnership in the face of joint challenges to a sustainable future. The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health systems, increased inequality, and created serious economic costs, especially for African countries. Russia’s war against Ukraine is now accelerating global and regional economic challenges. In the context of the pandemic, vaccine inequity between Africa and Europe has highlighted deep inequalities, although support to Africa’s own vaccine production is accelerating. The pandemic has led to an increased attention to One Health concepts and a higher awareness that the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss must be tackled together. Increased resilience in the face of future crises also depends on an inclusive economic recovery on both continents. This recovery depends on achieving a just transformation of our economies, which creates new economic opportunities, but also (short-term) costs.

The current crises have spurred realisations that the challenges that Europe and Africa face for securing a sustainable future require joint efforts and shared solutions. To realize shared solutions in an increasing fragile and multipolar world, existing power imbalances between the continents need to be addressed with the clear objective of overcoming them. Increased solidarity in tackling the public health crisis will be key for achieving a cooperation of equal partners, as well as tangible (economic) outcomes from the unprecedented attention now given to past and current power inequities between Africa and Europe. In addition, African governments must invest more strongly in overcoming structural inequalities in their countries to build a stronger Africa.

During the roundtable, executives of African and German organisations and academics from Europe and Africa will discuss how new perspectives on resilience and just transformation can contribute to strengthened partnerships between African and European societies.