The fifth African Union – European Union (AU-EU) summit will take place on 29-30 November 2017 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.2017 is a defining year for EU-Africa relations, as it has been ten years since the adoption of the joint Africa-EU Strategy. The AU-EU summit will be a key moment and opportunity to strengthen political and economic ties between the two continents. At the summit, African and EU leaders will discuss the future of EU-Africa relations and focus on investing in youth. This is a key priority for Africa and the EU as 60% of the African population is under the age of 25. Other priorities of the EU-Africa partnership will be discussed during the summit. These will include peace and security governance including democracy, human rights, migration and mobility investment and trade skills development job creation.

Side events youth is the central theme of the summit, young people will be actively involved in the run-up to leaders’ gathering in Abidjan. The 4th Africa-Europe youth summit brought together 120 youth leaders in Abidjan on 9-11 October. They agreed on a declaration with recommendations for the November summit. Building on this declaration, 36 young people from both continents will continue this work through the AU-EU youth plug-in initiative. From 12 October until 29 November, they will develop proposals for the summit. In addition, the 6th EU-Africa business forum will take place on 27 November in Abidjan. Its objective is to boost investment that promotes development in Africa. Young and female entrepreneurs will be a focal point for discussions at the business forum. The Africa-EU civil society forum took place earlier this year on 11-13 July in Tunis. This was the third edition of the forum which brought together civil society organisations from both continents. They adopted a declaration stressing the importance of civil society participation in EU-Africa relations