Fourteen ambassadors of African countries were hosted for lunch by Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg to affirm Austria’s commitment to Africa and raise new avenues of cooperation, such as energy exports and restricting migrant flows.
In February, the European Commission hosted the sixth EU-Africa summit in Brussels, committing €150 billion to develop infrastructure on the continent. The Austrian government and business association WKÖ see serious potential in African states.
“We want to take the partnership with African states to a new level with the help of a whole-of-government Africa strategy and strengthen cooperation,” said Nehammer after the lunch.
“In particular, this involves the areas of infrastructure, digitalisation or energy, environmental and climate technologies,” he added.
But with migration so high on the agenda in Vienna, Nehammer seemingly insisted on a quid-pro-quo in his meeting.
“We also expect closer cooperation on issues essential to us, particularly the fight against illegal migration, including readmission agreements,” he stressed.
Vienna is home to embassies of 15 African countries, of which 14 attended lunch, the Austrian chancellery said in a statement. The government did not respond to EURACTIV’s enquiry on who was missing.
African heavyweights like Congo (80 million citizens) and Uganda (40 million citizens) do not maintain embassies in Vienna, nor does Mali, the state currently troubling EU and UN military missions.
Simultaneously, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hosted the president of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki. “Today, we agreed to launch a joint task force on fertilisers,” she said.
(Nikolaus J. Kurmayer | EURACTIV.de)
Source: euractiv.com
