1. The Africa-EU Partnership Statistical cooperation
Fabio Di Stefano
DG DEVCO.D.3
4 April 2019

2. The Africa-EU Partnership
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES): strategic document launched at the Lisbon Summit in 2007
Regular Heads of States and Government Summits: 2000 (Cairo), 2007 (Lisbon), 2010 (Tripoli), 2014 (Brussels) and 2017 (Abidjan)
Future relationships to be discussed and decided within the framework of the negotiations on the future ACP-EU Partnership (Post-Cotonou negotiations)

3. The Africa-EU Partnership
5th AU-EU Summit (Abidjan)
Africa-EU Ministerial meeting
(Brussels)
High level meeting (Vienna)
Nov May Sept Oct Dec Jan.2019
Political Declaration
Africa–Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs
PanAfrican MultiAnnual programme
PanAfrican Annual Action Programme 2018

4. The Africa-EU Partnership
Political Declaration of the 5th AU-EU Summit (November 2017, Abidjan), 4 joint strategic priorities:
Investing in people – education, science, technology and skills development
Strengthening Resilience, Peace, Security and Governance
Migration and mobility
Mobilising Investments for African structural and sustainable transformation
"agree to increase efforts in urban and rural areas to ensure universal, inclusive, and equitable access to quality education at all levels, from pre-school to higher education, for all children and youth, especially girls";
"agree to support employability (including self-employment) and call for the enhanced relevance and quality of education and skills training that equips learners, including women and girls, with the appropriate and dynamic skills, competencies and behaviours that match the current and future needs and opportunities of the labour market";
"support concrete initiatives in terms of recognition of qualifications, partnerships between institutions and mobility of young students, staff and researchers, in particular women and girls, and foster partnership between institutions, in order to develop and transfer knowledge and technology and to strengthen the ties between the two continents"

5. “Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs”
The “Africa-Europe Alliance” (September 2018) sets out the European Commission’s economic strategy for EU-Africa economic relations for the years to come
It aims to promote a substantial increase of private investment in Africa, boost trade, enhance job creation and contribute to sustainable and inclusive development.
The EU ambition is to generate 10 million new jobs in Africa in the next 5 years.
The Alliance reflects our efforts to deliver on the commitments made at the 5th African Union – European Union Summit in Abidjan, held at the end of 2017, especially on the economic part, . It was also launched as a direct response to the request coming from Member States in the Council conclusions of June 2018.
Why was it needed?
As you all know, China, India, Turkey and the Gulf States are massively stepping up presence and engagement with Africa because they see the strategic interest of anchoring Africa to their geopolitical and economic space.
And Europe, while still being the first investor, trader and donor, is perceived as being less actively engaged.
The situation derives from the fact – and it’s not new – that we need to better show what we collectively represent and do. It also requires us to develop a number of collective initiatives where we can show the full weight of the EU's engagement.     
The Alliance is meant to answer to this need of an ambitious Africa-EU agenda.
It is based on the Africa's continental agenda (Agenda 2063) and flagship initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area.
It aims at promoting a substantial increase of private investment in Africa, boosting trade, enhancing job creation - in particular for youth - and contributing to sustainable and inclusive development.
#AUEU

6. Africa–Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs
4 main strands:
Boosting strategic investments for job creation and strengthening the role of the private sector
Investing in people by investing in education and skills
Strengthening business environment and investment climate
Tapping the full potential of economic integration and trade

7. Future ACP-EU Partnership Proposed new structure
A foundation agreement at ACP level, in combination with 3 regional partnerships

8. PanAfrican Programme (PanAf)
Purpose:
provide dedicated support to the AU-EU strategic partnership
delivers upon the priorities established at the AU-EU Summits
Key Principles:
Promote cross-regional, continental and global cooperation
Support mutual interest and shared values
Complementarity with other EU funding instruments

9. PanAfrican Programme (PanAf)
Total amount: EUR 400 million
3 priority areas:
Political dialogue and Pan-African governance (EUR 105 million)
Investing in People – education, science, technology and skills (EUR 135 million)
Continental economic integration (EUR 160 million)

10. PanAfrican Programme (PanAf)
PANAF : Pan-African governance
Contribute towards the development of an accountable, responsive and effective system of good governance at the Pan-African level
To enhance institutional and statistical capacity in the African Statistical System (ASS), building on the Strategy for Harmonisation of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA II).
Strengthening the ASS is crucial to produce and disseminate high-quality and harmonised statistics. Qualitative statistical information at continental level is essential to assist in the design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of integration policies for inclusive development.

11. Challenges of the African Statistical System
Big demand for qualitative statistics to underpin national policies, regional/continental (African Integration - African Continental Free Trade Area ) and international purposes (SDGs monitoring)
Systemic problems within African Statistical System to face this demand:
low level of resources/capacity
low priority compared to other parts of government;
poor coordination with other parts of the ASS – the coordination and governance mechanisms exist under SHaSA II, but challenging to make it work
Setting up a credible and independent African Institute for Statistics - STATAFRIC

12. Thank you for your attention
For more information on the Africa-EU Partnership: