President Ramaphosa participating in AU-EU summit in Belgium

President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Brussels, Belgium, to participate in a two-day sixth AU-EU summit.

Ramaphosa, who is accompanied by international relations minister Naledi Pandor, left the country on Wednesday after engaging with the media following his reply to the state of the nation address debate at the Cape Town City Hall.

Several topics — including climate change, vaccine production, education and peace and security — are expected to be discussed.

Acting presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale said Ramaphosa is expected to participate in the climate change and energy transition, digital and transport roundtable on Thursday and will chair the roundtable on health systems and vaccine production on Friday.

“The strategic partnership between Africa and the EU was initiated through the first AU-EU summit in Cairo, Egypt, in 2000. The partnership became structured through the joint Africa-EU strategy that was an outcome of the second AU-EU summit in Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2007,” said Seale.

This year’s summit is expected to adopt a declaration and deliverables that set out broad agreement between Africa and the EU on how both continents can build greater prosperity.

“The aim is to launch an ambitious Africa-Europe investment package, taking into account global challenges such as climate change and the current health crisis.”

Seale said leaders will also explore tools and solutions to promote stability and security through a renewed peace and security architecture.

TimesLIVE