Excellencies, Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the African Union and the European Union;

Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations;

Excellency Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission;

Excellency Ursula Van der Leyen, President of the European Commission;

Excellency António Costa, President of the European Council;

Excellencies, Heads of Delegations;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Excellencies,

It is with great honour that I welcome you to Luanda, the city where, starting today, we will address fundamental issues in relations between the African Union and the European Union, under the theme "Promoting Peace and Prosperity through Effective Multilateralism".

In my dual capacity as President of the Republic of Angola and Chairperson of the African Union, I would like to express our delight at welcoming such distinguished and prominent dignitaries from Africa and Europe to Luanda this November, which has special significance for Angolans, especially in this year of 2025, when we are celebrating the 50^th anniversary of our national independence.

Please accept the warm welcome of the Angolan people and the Government of the Republic of Angola, our best wishes for a pleasant stay and our sincere thanks for joining us for the 7^th African Union-European Union Summit, an event that is intended to be, at the same time, a guide for our relations, a compass on our joint path and a bridge linking the two continents, which have deep historical ties of cooperation.

Luanda stands today as a beacon of hope and a symbol of Africa's desire and willingness to establish ever deeper relations with Europe, seeking mutual benefits in an increasingly troubled world facing complex challenges that affect us all, marked by security, food, energy, humanitarian and health crises, leading to mass migration and global unemployment.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the African Union-European Union partnership. Over the course of this quarter of a century, mutual understanding has deepened, bilateral cooperation has solidified, and our partnership has expanded to all fields and sectors of mutual interest, with results that encourage us to move forward, as the positive results are clear to see and the future looks increasingly promising.

We have been building channels for dialogue and cooperation in various areas, such as peace and security, trade and investment, governance, education, health, climate action and digital transformation.

In recent months, during which the Republic of Angola has assumed the pro-tempore Chairmanship of the African Union, we have defined clear priorities that reflect both the aspirations of the continent and our commitment to the transformation of Africa.

We believe that an essential step should be taken towards consolidating peace, stability and security in Africa, as these are factors without which we would find it more difficult to promote the acceleration of economic integration, the empowerment of youth and women, and to ensure progress in climate resilience and energy transition.

None of this can be achieved without Africa's voice being effectively heard at the level of global governance, where we must emphasise our role in structural reforms that can make international institutions more inclusive and representative, so that an international system can be designed in which everyone participates in decisions on an equal footing.

We are aware of the efforts that must be made to improve essential cooperation models in general, so that we can reap the greatest possible benefits from our partnership, which has proven to be dynamic and highly focused on contributing to the resolution of the main problems and challenges we face in the process of economic and social development in our countries.

This 7^th African Union-European Union Summit offers us the opportunity to reflect deeply on our trajectory and make any necessary corrections, because Africa and Europe, in a framework of mutual respect, have much more to gain than to lose if they always walk together, strengthen exchanges between themselves, and complement each other with the best that each has to offer the other.

Europe has the know-how and technology, Africa has the raw materials that are essential to the world's industries, it has arable land that is not yet saturated or contaminated with excessive fertilisers and pesticides, it has abundant waterways for irrigation and clean energy production, it has abundant sunshine for equally clean energy production, and it has an abundant young workforce that, with adequate training, can change the current situation.

Together, we have everything we need to benefit and develop our continents. All we have to do is sharing and cooperating for mutual benefit.

Europe has everything to gain from partnership and cooperation with a developed Africa, one that does not send illegal immigrants to European countries across the Mediterranean Sea and does not constantly need to ask for donations and debt forgiveness.

There are many good examples of cooperation between the European Union and Africa, which are generally illustrated by the initiatives encompassed by the Global Gateway.

At the bilateral level, with particular reference to the relationship between Angola and the European Union, I would highlight the partnership that is developing within the framework of the “Joint Pathway”, which has been progressing satisfactorily and should be maintained and consolidated.

A few days ago, I participated in the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels and, during this major event, I expressed Africa's and our own views on the cooperation between the African Union and the European Union.

It is worth mentioning again that there are some structural projects in Africa, namely those related to accelerating digital connectivity, the energy transition and the Lobito Corridor, an infrastructure project that represents major gains in connecting the African continent with the rest of the world, which will boost agricultural and industrial production, enable regional and continental economic integration, promote trade within the African Continental Free Trade Area and also ensure the channelling of critical minerals and important commodities.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The relationship between the African Union and the European Union must be guided by a spirit of pragmatism, free from bureaucratic constraints that often delay the smooth running and implementation of important joint projects.

We greatly appreciate the way our cooperation works, but we believe that in some areas, particularly those concerning the measures we should seek to take to ensure that young Africans remain in their countries of origin, it would be useful to carry out projects that ensure the employability of this segment of the population, starting with providing them with vocational training to address the shortage of skilled workers we have in Africa, so that they can join the teams involved in implementing the joint projects we are developing and meet the labour needs of European and other companies investing in our continent.

Speaking of entrepreneurship, investment and all the initiatives that can drive the economies of our two continents, I think it is worth mentioning that Africa has a vital need for access to affordable financing, so that it can be used to carry out strategic projects aimed at ensuring the electrification of the continent  industrialisation, the mobility of people, goods and services, and thus lay the foundations that will effectively drive the continent's development.

Allow me to refer to the 4^th International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Seville from 30 June to 3 July this year, during which our European partners took a position that we applaud, as they responded to the appeal that I reiterate today on behalf of all of Africa, linked to the urgent need to work towards achieving comprehensive reform of the global financial system, including fairer debt restructuring mechanisms, the expansion of special drawing rights allocations and innovative financing instruments that support African development efforts.

We are in great need of a new vision of the financial relationship between Africa and international lending institutions, so that we can invest in development while avoiding the suffocation caused by unsustainable debt.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In line with our ongoing concern for issues related to Africa's development, last month we held the 4^th African Conference on Infrastructure Financing in Africa in Luanda, where we addressed not only the urgent need to ensure fairer access for Africa to global capital markets, but also the need to promote African-led solutions in the context of public-private partnerships in foreign investment in infrastructure on the African continent, in order to make our economies more robust, more competitive and better able to integrate into the global economy.

Africa cannot remain in the state of poverty that has dominated the continent for decades, because this represents a problem not only for ourselves, but also for the rest of the world, which is facing difficult situations resulting from the deprivation of African peoples, namely the frequent emergence of various epidemics, mass emigration, internal conflicts and other ills that plague Africa.

It is with the aim of overcoming this state of affairs that I attach great importance to cooperation between the African Unionand the European Union, calling for the means and resources available to be strengthened wherever possible in order to boost the economic cooperation we are developing and to encourage European entrepreneurs and investors to take an interest in Africa and invest in the industrialisation of the continent and in sectors of the African economy that drive growth and produce mutual benefits.

Climate change is increasingly threatening the planet, with rising global warming and its consequences, such as a significant increase in aggressive natural phenomena, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, widespread flooding, landslides, severe drought, forest fires and others, which result from increased greenhouse gas emissions, due to excessive consumption of fossil fuels and deforestation of vast areas of forests, the lungs of the planet.

We have gone from COP to COP, now in its 30^th edition, which took place in Belém do Pará, Brazil, without seeing at least a trend towards a reduction in climate change, because in fact we have talked a lot but done very little.

Due to its very low level of industrialisation, Africa is the continent that produces and emits the least greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but it is the one that can contribute most to combating climate change if we increase our production and transport of energy from clean sources, making the most of the continent's hydro and solar potential by building more hydroelectric dams and solar photovoltaic parks.

We will continue to fight against the desertification of our lands caused by human action resulting from deforestation, whether through the indiscriminate felling of our plant species for illegal timber trade or through forest fires on the grounds of the need to maintain old traditional practices.

A major investment must also be made to replace firewood and charcoal with cooking gas in most households on our continent, thereby reducing the deforestation of our forests. This is difficult to implement due to the financial and even cultural implications, but it is necessary and possible in the medium/long term.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The European Union is currently facing a major security challenge, with the war against Ukraine that has been dragging on for almost four years and has so far caused a trail of deaths, injuries, internally displaced persons and refugees scattered across Europe, the destruction of a significant part of the country's main infrastructure, and the occupation and annexation of part of its territory.

For its part, the African Union also faces a succession of unconstitutional changes of power in some West African countries and, more recently, in a SADC country, Madagascar; It faces terrorism in the Sahel, Somalia and Mozambique, war in Sudan and Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, with the danger of secession in both cases if the current situation prevails without adequate measures being taken to ensure an end to the war and the establishment of lasting peace.

Bearing in mind that the Middle East is almost halfway between Africa and Europe, we cannot fail to mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in particular the situation in the Gaza Strip, which threatens the peace and security of the entire region.

We applaud the efforts made by President Donald Trump and some Arab League countries, which have brought hope for an end to that conflict and the possibility of creating the State of Palestine, as determined by the United Nations in resolutions of its Security Council.

This serious deterioration in the security situation in Europe, Africa and the Middle East at the same time stems from the failure to observe and comply with the principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and international law, which govern relations between states.

The violation of the principles of non-aggression, respect for the independence and sovereignty of states, the need for peaceful resolution of conflicts through negotiation, and non-interference in the internal affairs of states is endangering world peace and security.

This situation is aggravated by the fact that some of the major permanent members of the United Nations Security Council ignore and undermine the very body of which they are members, with their unilateral measures based on the force of force rather than on the force of universally enshrined principles.

It is urgent that multilateralism be restored, for the good of humanity. 

I hereby declare the 7^th African Union-European Union Summit open.

Thank you very much for your attention!