10 December 2007
Lisbon — The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Tomas Salomao, has told journalists covering the weekend Europe-Africa summit in Lisbon he was concerned to find, during the debates, that "the Europeans have still not understood that African countries are their partners, and as such they should treat them on a footing of equality".
Salomao said this trend among the Europeans was evident during the negotiation of the agreements that should serve as a basis for future cooperation. He claimed that one of the factors at the root of disagreement between the two continents is that Europe wants cooperation to continue in much the same forms as over the past 50 years.
"The Europeans have not yet understood that we are and want to be their partners, just as we regard them as our partners", he stressed. Cooperation should thus not take a form where one side gains more than the other.
Salomao wanted to see a joint Europe-Africa programme that would lead to the construction of the key infrastructures for Africa's development.
He warned that unless Africa is treated on a footing of equality, there will always be a deficit in the cooperation between the two continents, and it will never produce the desired results.
This somewhat pessimistic view is in sharp contrast to the claims by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza that the summit was "very positive" and that he believed Africa could engage in mutually advantageous cooperation with Europe.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
