WINDHOEK
Namibia signed a 104 million euro Strategic Policy Agreement with the European Union during the EU-Africa Summit, which ended on Sunday in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Director General of the National Planning Commission, Helmut Angula, told Nampa yesterday upon arrival from the summit that Namibia is among 33 countries that signed a Strategic Policy Agreement.
He said the agreement entails a five-year development cooperation from 2008 to 2013.
“This development aid covers many sectors, which include rural development, education and social sectors, such as HIV/Aids and gender,” he said.
He added that the EU and African leaders pledged to create a new partnership of equals at a summit marked by trade rows.
According to reports, after two days of what hosts Portugal described as a no-holds barred debate, leaders of the two continents put their names to an ‘Africa-EU Strategic Partnership’ agreement to take their relationship to a new strategic level.
They vowed to move away from a traditional relationship and forge a real partnership characterised by equality and pursuit of common objectives that capitalise on lessons from past experiences.
The summit deliberated on the issue of peace and security; democracy and human rights; trade, infrastructure and development; migration, energy and climate change.
Comments were made on the situation in Zimbabwe and Darfur.
The meeting comes seven years after the first EU-Africa Summit held Cairo, Egypt. – Nampa