My Ghana Electronic Desk

By Edmund Smith-Asante , BACK FROM BRUSSELS Some of the Heads of State at the Summit The European Union (EU) has pledged over €28 billion to Africa in the next six years (2014 – 2020), in addition to bilateral cooperation between EU member states and African countries. This figure would go into the implementation of priorities identified by both the EU and African states during the 4 th EU-Africa summit held from April 2 to April 3, 2014 in Brussels, Belgium, under the theme “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace”.

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mrs Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini Zuma, has urged Europe to partner Africa in an industrialisation drive so that it can  contribute more meaningfully to the world’s economy. Africa, she said, was also in dire need of skills development because of its growing young population who needed training in order to contribute to the development of Africa and Europe. “With a growing and young population, Africa needs a skilled revolution and to scale up investments requires research technology and innovation.” Courting Europe in her address at the 4th EU-Africa Summit in Brussels, Mrs Dlamini Zuma said while Africa’s plan of industrialisation – the African Industrial Development Plan (AIDP) – looked at agriculture as one of the drivers of industrialisation, a partnership with Europe would result in a win, win for everyone. “So we need to look at growing and also processing our agricultural products. But bec