Portugal: a platform for dialog, cooperation and development between Europe and Africa.

The EurAfrican Forum 2024, an event promoted by the Portuguese Diaspora Council, took place at the Nova SBE University in Carcavelos – Cascais on July 15 and 16, with the theme of its seventh edition being “Africa: The next chapter – partnerships for growth”. The event, which was attended by a record 500 people on each of the two days, brought together political, institutional and business leaders from the world of science and technology, as well as from the cultural world of the two continents.
The main objective of all these leaders, as well as the various European and African organizations represented, was a rigorous, constructive, current and inclusive debate, based on ideas, proposals, realities and projects of mutual interest to the two continents. With 74 speakers from 35 countries, 18 of which were African, the EurAfrican Forum 2024 once again proved to be a platform of excellence in terms of international contact and soft power aimed at stimulating public and private collaboration between Europe and Africa. António Calçada de Sá, Chairman of the Board of the Diaspora Council, told the participants that “we all agree on the Europe-Africa cooperation strategy, the numerous projects, the needs and the great opportunities. The problem is not one of strategy, the problem is one of implementation. And in this sense, a concrete plan is essential, a plan with some key projects supported by the public and private sectors on both continents. It’s a question of identifying the 10-20 future projects with the greatest impact (among others, in the areas of education, health, infrastructure, energy, industry, digitalization) and promoting robust alliances that represent commitments and state pacts that last over time. This is the only way to create the stability and confidence needed for major investments.” “The technology and knowledge of Portuguese and European companies are not enough to enter Africa, a true partnership between equals is essential.” The Chairman of the Board also stressed that “it’s not enough to take resources to Africa and expect everything to happen by magic. It has to be a collaborative process, with programs accepted bilaterally, it’s ‘give and take’, and Europe and Portugal are very well positioned in this bilateral relationship. We have to have a common agenda that touches these sectors, and there has to be full institutional support for us to move forward. If we do that, everything in the strategy will happen, and if we do it well, then it will happen better and faster.”

José Manuel Durão Barroso, Chairman of the EurAfrican Forum, stressed the importance of the event, pointing out that “partnerships are absolutely fundamental for growth and sustainable development, especially in the globalized context in which we live today. The EurAfrican Forum is a platform that brings together government leaders, experts from various fields, academia, entrepreneurs, investors, among other entities who, for two days, debated the best way to capitalize on the synergies of resources, knowledge, access to new markets, innovation and research and infrastructure development, to promote growth and guarantee a sustainable future for all.”
For two days, dozens of global leaders, government officials, politicians, businesspeople, researchers and academics discussed strategic issues for cooperation between the two continents, such as Investment and Internationalization, Energy and Mining, Gender Equality, Education, Agribusiness, Digitalization, Geopolitics, Infrastructure, Sports and Health.
Among the more than 70 speakers at the Eurafrican Forum 2024 were Paulo Rangel, Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs; Pedro Reis, Portuguese Minister of Economy; Maria da Graça Carvalho, Portuguese Minister of Environment and Energy; Sílvia Lutucuta, Angolan Minister of Health; Paulo Portas, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Portugal; Suzi Barbosa, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guinea-Bissau; Mário Campolargo, former Secretary of State for Digitalization and Administrative Modernization; Ana Fontoura Gouveia, former Portuguese Secretary of State for Energy; Nelma Pontes Fernandes, President of the Business Confederation of CPLP countries; Hans Martens, Executive Director of the European Policy Centre; Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Director of Resource Mobilization and Growth at GAVI (Global Vaccine Alliance); Emanuel Macedo Medeiros, CEO of Sport Integrity Global Alliance; Susana Feitor, Olympic Athlete and Vivian Onano, activist, influencer and social entrepreneur from Kenya.

In the “Conversation of Presidents”, which closed the seventh edition of the EurAfrican Forum 2024, and which brought the President of Mauritius to Portugal, the President of the Portuguese Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, pointed out that “sometimes we don’t realize how important Africa is for Europe, not only because it is the continent of the future, but also because sometimes we don’t understand what is happening in Africa, in different countries and regions. We are so consumed with European problems that we forget about our closest neighbor, Africa.” The President of Mauritius, Prithvirajsing Roopun, argued that the African continent is not just one, being made up of 54 countries that “are not homogeneous and cannot all be put in the same basket, because each one has its own culture and way of seeing the world”, so “the connection should not just be bilateral, but continental, between two continents that need to work together”.

The participation of the 7th President of Mauritius in the EurAfrican Forum was part of the official program of his first State Visit to Portugal, which aims to strengthen relations between our country and the Republic of Mauritius, discussing cooperation opportunities of mutual interest for the European and African continents. In this context, President Roopun expressed his interest in deepening cooperation with Portugal, particularly in the blue economy and renewable energies, areas that he listed, among others.
The seventh edition of the EurAfrican Forum brought some new features. More topics were included for analysis and debate, which were defined according to a study carried out among the participants of the 2023 edition on the opportunity and relevance of each area at the present time, creating a greater opportunity to reflect and correlate all of them, with a view to strengthening synergies between Europe and Africa in the most diverse sectors of society.

For the first time, and to make the meeting more agile, some of the panels were divided into parallel sessions, allowing interested parties to delve deeper into each topic. This year, the CDP also focused on innovation, technology, agile contact and communication and presented the official EurAfrican Forum app. As a centralized platform for the event, it was possible to register for the parallel sessions, consult the online programme, obtain information about the panels, communicate directly with the organization and the speakers, among other features. Undoubtedly the best attended to date, this edition of EurAfrican Forum 2024 helped to affirm Portugal’s central role in promoting dialogue, cooperation and development between the European and African continents.

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