Abidjan, 7 October 2017 – Member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko participates in the New Windhoek Dialogue, the meeting of centre-right political parties from Africa and the European Union in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from 6 to 9 October, in the eve of the 5th EU-Africa Summit, scheduled for the end of November. Topics of achievements of the cooperation and partnership between Africa and the European Union will be discussed at the Summit and challenges and possibilities of further strengthening of the partnership identified.
The New Windhoek Dialogue gathered high-level officials from African centre-right political parties and members of the European Parliament from the European People’s Party, representatives of national parliaments and other high-level officials from centre-right political parties from the EU. This year’s preparation meeting is an excellent platform for discussion of the key issues to be included into the new plan of the joint strategic cooperation between the EU and Africa.
The participants of the New Windhoek Dialogue discussed the current state of the EU-Africa relations, expectations from the Summit, trade and regional integration, management of cross-border migration, finances and investment.
MEP Zovko has participated today in the panel “Investment in youth accelerated growth and sustainable development“.
In her speech at the youth panel Zovko stressed the importance of investing in education system, life-long learning, professional training and development of skills and innovations in order for the young people to prepare for the competitive requirements of the labour market.
She further touched upon the issue of illicit migration, especially of the young people and called for improvement of business environment, investment and competitiveness of economy, which are onditioned by mobilisation of available financial instruments such as the European Fund for Sustainable Development (EFSD).
Zovko particularly pointed out to a necessity of implementing institutional and political reforms in the subject countries as a basis for all other reforms. She stressed that the institutional and political stability would bring trust and necessary investment in sustainable and inclusive development of young people.
“The future of young people is right here, in Africa. They must be given an opportunity to take over governance and start making decisions about their future in Africa.” – said Zovko.
