On 13 September 2007, under the auspices of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU, the Institute for Strategic and International Studies (IEEI), together with the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and the support of the Instituto Português de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento (IPAD), organizes an international seminar on the EU-Africa political dialogue, comprised of a Round-table and a Public Conference.

Round-table
The Round-table will be held during the morning, with a set of representatives from European and African institutes and entrance will be restricted to guests.

The debate will be centred on the role of European and African think tanks in the discussion of political questions of the strategic agenda of the European Union – Africa. The opportunity to launch a net of institutes that will bring research-oriented and policy-making areas closer to each other, and that may have an added value in the political dialogue and the themes expected for the next Summit, will be analyzed.

Public Conference
The Conference will be introduced by Álvaro de Vasconcelos, Director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies.

During the session on The construction of a joint Europe-Africa Strategy there will be a presentation of the most important results of a public consultation carried out by the ECDPM for the European Commission and the African Union Commission. The presentation, made by Geert Laporte, will deal with the following main themes: peace and security; trade and integration; governing, democracy and human rights; political aspects of development – such as migrations, infra-structures, manpower qualification, education, health, demography. Comments on this presentation will be made by Ambassador Mahamet Annadif, responsible for the Permanent Mission of the African Union in Brussels, and Françoise Moreau, Head of Unit Development, Coherence and forward studies of the European Commission.

The session EU-Africa Summit: political issues of the strategic agenda will include a discussion panel involving members of the following Institutes and Centres:

- Elizabeth Sidiropoulos - South African Institute of International Affairs - Johannesburg
- Denis Tull - Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik - Berlin
- Ivan Briscoe - Stefan Meyer - Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior - Madrid
- Álvaro Vasconcelos - European Union Institute for Security Studies - Paris
- Roland Marchal - Centre d'Études et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) - Paris
- Ositadimma Eze - Nigerian Institute of International Affairs - Lagos
- Alex Vines - Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) - London
- Adebayo Olukoshi - Conseil pour le Développement de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales en Afrique (CODESRIA) - Dakar
- Yenkong Ngangjoh Hodu - Nordiska Afrikainstitutet - Uppsala
- Adja Dosso - Alain Toussaint - Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques de Côte d'Ivoire - Abidjan
- Belmiro Rodolfo - João de Barros - Centro de Estudos Estratégicos e Internacionais - Maputo
Thomas Lawo - European Association of Development Institutes (EADI) - Bonn
Fernando Pacheco - Acção para o Desenvolvimento Rural e Ambiente - ADRA- Luanda
Paul Engel - Geert Laporte - European Centre for Development Policy Management - Maastricht
Iliana Olivié - Real Instituto Elcano - Madrid
Olu Ajakaiye - African Economic Research Consortium - Nairobi
Mohamed El-Sayed Said - Al-ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies - Cairo

The purpose of this session is to discuss concrete issues on themes that may come into the limelight during the next EU-Africa Summit: which joint strategy for Darfur and Somalia? Which common actions or policies on migration? How to connect security and development issues? The debate will be conducted by Fernando Jorge Cardoso, Director of Studies at IEEI and Paul Engel, Director of ECDPM. Carlos Lopes, Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and Ambassador António Monteiro, special envoy for the EU-Africa Summit will comment on the discussion.

António Figueiredo Lopes, Executive Director of IEEI and João Gomes Cravinho, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation will bring this International Seminar to an end.

Les séances de l'après-midi, auxquelles participent des ambassadeurs et des représentants diplomatiques africains et européens au Portugal, sont ouvertes à condition que les personnes et la presse soient dûment accrédités (accréditation obligatoire dans le cadre du «Pavilhão de Portugal»).

Media
Members of the media may directly approach speakers and guests in order to know of their availability for interviews. A room next to the conference room will be available for that purpose.


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