Taking the Next Step Africa and EU are tackling energy challenges together

African and European Ministers, Commissioners, business leaders and more than 400 other high-level delegates will define the priorities for the energy collaboration between the two continents at the Second High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership, coming together 12-13 Feb-ruary 2014 at the AUC Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.

Addis-Ababa, 30 January 2014. Access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy in a world of dwindling resources is one of the core challenges for the 21st century. Energy powers economic de-velopment to provide a livelihood for millions. Energy is needed to pump, clean and desalinate wa-ter, to produce fertilizer and grow food, to maintain and improve a modern infrastructure not only for transport, but also for sharing knowledge and educate the coming generations. It is a prerequisite for modern schools and universities, for communal services and health centres, for productive uses (for instance food cooling and healthy cooking facilities) – and for political participation through modern communication and information technology.

How vulnerable are our societies and economies when energy prices rise or energy supplies are in-terrupted? Can we curtail and in future avoid wars over energy? Can we change our energy use to reduce the environmental impact on our planet and counteract climate change?

In order to strengthen the Africa-EU strategic dialogue on access to energy and energy security and to link energy policies on both continents, the African-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP) was launched in 2007 by African and European Ministers.

Three years ago, Energy ministers of the EU and Africa set ambitious targets to be reached by 2020: to bring access to modern and sustainable energy services to at least an additional 100 million Afri-cans, to double the capacity of cross-border electricity interconnections, thus increasing trade in electricity while ensuring adequate levels of generation capacity; to double the use of natural gas in Africa, as well as double African gas exports to Europe, by building natural gas infrastructure, notably to bring currently flared gas to market, and finally to increase both energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy in Africa. This includes building 10,000MW of new hydropower facilities, at least 5,000MW of wind power capacity; 500MW of all forms of solar energy capacity; tripling the capacity of other renewables, such as geothermal and modern biomass; and improving energy efficiency in Africa in all sectors, starting with the electricity sector, in support of Africa’s continental, regional and sectoral targets.

Monitoring has shown, there is progress in all areas and that fulfilling several of these targets is achievable — but there’s more to do, now time has come to step up efforts and do the next step: To develop a new vision for the collaboration of the continents and set priorities for the work of the next decades.

At the Second High Level Meeting of the Energy Partnership, taking place on 12-13 February 2014 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis-Ababa, participants will deliver concrete results:

 The “Addis Ababa Declaration” – defining the Partnership’s priorities and vision for African-European collaboration on energy affairs;

 A Message to the 4th Africa-EU Summit in April 2014 – positioning the AEEP as a strategic -African-EU channel for policy dialogue and catalyser for ongoing energy-related initiatives at a continental or global level;

 The “AEEP 2020 Activity Portfolio” – presenting the actions and programmes from all African and European stakeholders towards the AEEP Targets

About the AEEP

In Lisbon in December 2007, African and European Heads of State and their governments decided to launch the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP), one of the eight strategic partnerships comprising the Africa-EU Joint Strategy. Under this partnership of equals, the two continents share their knowhow and resources, tune their complementary interests and closely link their policies to meet the energy challenge hand in hand. The AEEP is co-chaired by Mauritius and the African Union on the African side and Austria and Germany on the European side. The Second High Level meeting of the AEEP, bringing together political and business leaders as well as representatives of civil society and academia from both continents, will take place on 12-13 February in Addis Ababa.

Press Participation

For more information and online accreditation, please visit: www.aeep-conference.org.

Contact Please contact the AEEP press office via e-mail at press@aeep-conference.org or the Directorate of Information and Communication of the African Union Commission at MusabayanaW@african-union.org if you need any further information.