Development Policy Archives

After several months of different European leaders beating a path to the African continent, Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission has got in on the act. But for the moment, Brussels is not offering anything new on either trade or investment.

European states warned the United Nations that more than 800,000 people are cut off from aid and may be starving in northeast Nigeria, contradicting government assertions that a crisis has abated and rebuking the world body for failing to secure access.

China is helping Africa develop, not pile up debt, a top Chinese official said on Tuesday (4 September), as the government pushes back against criticism it is loading the continent with an unsustainable burden during a major summit in Beijing.

Increasing trade between the EU and the ACP (African-Caribbean-Pacific), particularly African countries, lay at the heart of the ambition of the Cotonou Agreement. That was supposed to be embodied by regional Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with the EU.

The issue of how to control migration from Africa may have exorcised European leaders in recent years, but it could also derail the EU's main political agreement with the continent.

The African Union wants to have a continent-to-continent dialogue with Europe, a change that could make the framework of the Cotonou Agreement implode and leave the Pacific and Caribbean states out in the cold.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Senegal Wednesday (29 August), at the start of a West African tour, with Berlin hoping that development of the continent will help stem migration and boost the fight against jihadism.

The Cotonou agreement has regulated cooperation between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries since 2000. With negotiations on its successor about to start, the results so far seem mixed. EURACTIV France reports.

British Prime Minister Theresa May today (28 August) pledged to prioritise investment in Africa as she started a three-nation visit to the continent to drum up new trade deals ahead of leaving the European Union.

Emmerson Mnangagwa was officially sworn in as president of Zimbabwe on Sunday (26 August) after winning a bitterly-contested election which was the country's first since the ousting of strongman Robert Mugabe.

Russia's supply of weapons to the Central African Republic's military has sparked an arms race, with rebels turning to traffickers in Sudan for fresh gun shipments, according to a UN panel of experts.

Chad is a country struck by conflict and poverty, yet it has welcomed nearly 400,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, especially from the Central African Republic (CAR). EURACTIV.fr reports.

Standing in a field of roses in eastern Afghanistan, former poppy grower Mohammad Din Sapai quickly but carefully plucks the delicate petals that will be turned into rose water and oils for sale around the world.

For the first time the number of AIDS-related deaths has dropped below 1 million, according to a new report published by UNAIDS. However, progress is still too slow and as a result, 2020 HIV targets might not be reached. EURACTIV.fr reports.

In the capital of Chad, N'Djamena, the Chad-China Friendship Hospital treats cases of acute malnutrition in young children, a countryside phenomena that has taken over the city in the past few years. EURACTIV.fr reports.

The UK’s development minister accused the European Commission on Tuesday (17 July) of discriminating against UK aid agencies, in a move that could scupper future partnerships after the UK leaves the EU.

“Europe’s security, and that of Spain, depend on security in the Sahel," said the EU Special Representative for the Sahel, Ángel Losada. EURACTIV’s partner Euroefe reports.

The EU’s much vaunted private investment vehicle in Africa has moved a step closer to becoming reality after €800 million was unlocked to leverage multi-billion euro investments on the continent.

High income countries are falling short of the goals set three years ago by the United Natons, with Scandinavian countries a notable exception. EURACTIV.fr reports.

Almost three-quarters of all ivory sold legally in Europe is in fact illicit and comes from tusks of elephants that were killed after the 1990 ban on ivory trade, according to an investigation released on Tuesday (10 July).

Germany plans to use public money to support companies which invest in Africa, part of a new "Marshall Plan" with which it hopes to tackle the roots of the refugee crisis that has convulsed European politics since 2015.

While armed conflicts are on the rise around the world, Paris launched a new strategy for prevention, resilience and sustainable peace in developing countries, on 13 June. EURACTIV.fr reports.

The European Commission will set out its plans to dramatically increase spending on migration control on Thursday (14 June), as part of its overhaul of EU development spending between 2021 and 2027.

European expertise agencies, the kingpins of solidarity policy, want to work more together in order to establish themselves as true competitors in the face of United Nations agencies, especially in the field of security. EURACTIV.fr reports.