The Japan Times - EU, Africa pledge to boost trade, tackle migration at summit

Two days of talks in the Angolan capital Luanda produced a wide-ranging declaration that nodded to Europe's desire to secure critical minerals and Africa's thirst for jobs and economic growth.

"Africa is rich in natural resources. Resources that are essential for the dual energy and digital transition," European Council President Antonio Costa said in closing remarks at the European Union-African Union summit.

"But its greatest wealth... is its human capital and its youth," he told delegates, adding it was key to develop "value chains" that supported employment on the continent.

Africa has emerged as a battleground for its critical minerals and energy potential, with China, the United States and Russia also seeking to foster stronger ties.

Germany's Friedrich Merz, Poland's Donald Tusk, and Spain's Pedro Sanchez were among about a dozen EU leaders who flew in for the summit, where analysts said a good showing was crucial to signal Brussels meant business.

Africa was represented by the likes of South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya's William Ruto and Djibouti's Ismail Omar Guelleh.

- 'Perfunctory' summit -

But the gathering was partially overshadowed by a European scramble to better the terms of a US plan to end the Ukraine war, with EU leaders huddling for an impromptu meeting on Monday.

Flight troubles kept Denmark's Mette Frederiksen, Luxembourg's Luc Frieden and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas from the summit.

And leaders including Merz, France's Emmanuel Macron, Italy's Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew out on Monday, skipping the last day.

"The summit has been mostly perfunctory", with "many statements that Africa-Europe partnership is in the highest priority", said Alex Vines of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The focus on Ukraine by Europeans is a reminder that it is not," he said.

Still, Portugal foreign minister Paulo Rangel told AFP the fact that so many had travelled to Luanda sent a strong signal, describing the summit as a "success".

"There is an impulse that is quite clear," he said, praising the agreements on mobility and migration.

"Africa and Europe, if they want to be players on the global stage... they have to cooperate".

- 'Concrete' offer -

Marking 25 years of EU-AU relations, the summit came on the heels of a G20 meeting in South Africa where a US boycott underscored geopolitical fractures.

These were pointed at in a 10-page joint declaration that decried "increasing uncertainty in trade policies and tariff volatility" as "a challenge for the world economy".

With both sides hit by US tariffs and Europe seeking to reduce its dependency on China for rare earths, leaders committed to strengthen trade and diversify and secure global supply chains, with a specific reference to "strategic and critical minerals."

African nations clamouring for investments that generate local value and not just resource extraction won a pledge from Europe to support them to "develop, industrialise, diversify exports, and integrate into regional markets".

To that end, Brussels is betting on its Global Gateway initiative -- a massive infrastructure plan it hopes can counter China's growing influence.

Host Angola is home to one of the EU's signature undertakings: the Lobito corridor, a railway project funded in partnership with the United States to connect mineral-rich areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Atlantic coast.

"We now have something very concrete to offer. That's what we lacked in the past," said European Parliament Vice-President Younous Omarjee.

Europe was also promised help in tackling irregular migration and improving the return of failed asylum seekers to their country of origin -- a common gripe in much of the 27-nation EU.

And both parties called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan, condemning "the atrocities committed in El-Fasher", the town recently seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

M.Matsumoto--JT