The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government or their representatives will participate in the sixth Summit of the African Union and European Union that will take place on 17 and 18 February 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.
The Summit will present an opportunity to lay the foundations for renewed and deeper AU-EU partnership with the highest political involvement and based on trust and a clear understanding of mutual interests.
The AU and EU Heads of State or Government will participate in the roundtables, together with a selected group of external guests who are experts in their respective fields to discuss how both continents can collaborate in addressing the following topics.
- Growth financing
- Health systems and vaccine production
- Agriculture and sustainable development
- Education, culture and vocational training, migration and mobility
- Private sector support and economic integration
- Peace, security and governance
- Climate change and energy transition, digital and transport [connectivity and infrastructure]
The EU and its Member States have given support to regional integration in Southern Africa since the early 2000s, and to date, the EU has provided over €415 million of support to SADC's regional integration process, in addition to bilateral funding to individual states. The last AU-EU Summit took place over four years ago, in November 2017, in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.
