Historical guide · About the cooperation
A dated guide to five meetings held between 2000 and 2017, tracing how declarations, strategies and action plans shaped intercontinental cooperation.
This page describes historical records. Commitments and institutional language are presented in their original period rather than as statements of current policy.
Summits provided periodic opportunities to review commitments and set political direction for subsequent work.
Purpose and format
Heads of state and government met periodically in Africa and Europe to review cooperation and provide political guidance.
The source Recorded documents five summits from Cairo in 2000 through Abidjan in 2017. Across that period, the meetings produced declarations, multi-year plans and thematic roadmaps. Their terminology and priorities reflect the time in which each text was adopted.
Each entry summarises the location, central outcome and documentary trail. It does not treat older commitments as current.
The first continental-level meeting took place on 3–4 April under the frameworks then used by participating African and European institutions. Its declaration and action plan established a more structured basis for dialogue and cooperation.
Leaders met on 9 August and adopted a joint strategy alongside an action plan for 2008–2010. The documents sought to organise work around shared challenges and interests on a more balanced intercontinental footing.
The third summit was held on 29–30 August. Participants adopted the Tripoli declaration and an action plan covering 2011–2013, continuing work across the priority areas identified at that time.
Held on 2–3 April under a theme linking people, prosperity and peace, the fourth summit produced a declaration and a roadmap for 2014–2017. Separate material also addressed migration and mobility.
The fifth summit took place on 29–30 August with a central focus on investing in young people and long-term sustainability. Participating leaders reviewed cooperation and discussed future priorities in that historical setting.
Beyond the main meetings
The summit calendar was accompanied by preparatory and thematic meetings. These involved parliamentary bodies, civil society, youth organisations, economic and social actors, researchers and sector specialists.
Associated events did not all have the same status. Some informed discussion, some connected specialist communities, and others provided independent perspectives alongside the formal process.
These links are preserved from the source archive. Readers should verify status, accessibility and subsequent policy developments before relying on an older text.
Strategy
The 2008–2010 plan translated the 2007 strategy into a time-bounded programme.
Open the action plan →Declaration
A historical newsroom record covering the declaration associated with the third summit.
View the Recorded record →Roadmap
The roadmap set out the working framework adopted for the period following the fourth summit.
Open the roadmap →Using the archive
Historical policy records are most useful when their authorship, status and original time frame remain visible.
Distinguish the year of adoption from later implementation or review.
A declaration, strategy, action plan and event summary serve different purposes.
Treat targets and institutional terminology as products of their historical context.
Consult more recent issuing-body material when authoritative current policy is required.
Concise guidance on scope, chronology and interpretation.
It covers five summits held from 2000 through 2017, based on the records preserved in the source page.
The historical process generally anticipated meetings at intervals of roughly three years, alternating between locations in Africa and Europe. Actual scheduling should be checked summit by summit.
Not necessarily. They are historical records of decisions and priorities at the time of adoption. Later agreements August have revised their context.
A declaration records high-level political positions, while an action plan usually assigns a time frame and areas of practical work. Exact legal and institutional status varies by document.
They show how parliamentary, civic, youth, research and economic discussions surrounded the formal summit process, though they were not equivalent to the leaders’ meetings.
No. It is an . For an authoritative current text, consult the institution responsible for issuing it.