Event Recording:
Africa and Europe stand at a crossroads.
With several key frameworks governing their partnership being changed at fast pace, the stage is set for them to identify, understand, and overcome the self-deceit that has shaped their relations. The two continent’s key actors have an opportunity to reaffirm what was said by the region’s respective leaders in 2017: that their partnership ought to be built on a “spirit of shared ownership, responsibility, reciprocity, respect and mutual accountability and transparency.”
A lot of what has happened recently - from aggravating impacts of climate change, the 2008-2009 financial crisis, to the macroeconomic challenges resulting from a pandemic and the consequences of the War in Ukraine – aggravates the marginalisation of Africa, confirming the need for a change of approach. The colonial shadow, still marking negotiators mind sets in both sides, is trapping them into the past while overlooking the many opportunities of the future.
Professor Carlos Lopes
Oxford Martin School Visiting Fellow, Oxford Martin Programme on African Governance
Carlos Lopes is a Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town; Oxford Martin School Visiting Fellow on the Oxford Martin Programme on African Governance; and a Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Paris.
He is a member of several Boards, including the Geneva Graduate Institute, World Resources Institute, Africa Leadership Institute, and the African Climate Foundation, that he Chairs. He has occupied several leadership positions at the United Nations where he led the Economic Commission for Africa from 2012 to 2016. Widely published, he is a regular presence in the international media and has been recognized as one of most influential Africans more than 20 times, by different magazines.
Professor Ricardo Soares de Oliveira (Chair)
Director, Oxford Martin Programme on African Governance
Ricardo Soares de Oliveira is Professor of the International Politics of Africa at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, Official Fellow of St Peter's College, and a Fellow with the Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin.
His research interests include African politics (particularly West and Central Africa), the geopolitics of energy and international political economy, especially in the fields of natural resource extraction, state decay and post-conflict reconstruction.
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