President Ramaphosa arrives in Angola to attend the African Union-European Union (AU-EU) Summit

 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has arrived in Luanda, Angola, this morning, Monday, 24 November 2025, to attend the Seventh African Union-European Union Summit, from 24 to 25 November 2025.

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the partnership between the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) since its First Summit in Cairo, Egypt, in 2000.

The structure was known at the time as the “EU-Africa Partnership”.

The “EU-Africa Partnership” was transformed into the “AU-EU Summit” in 2017, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

The Seventh AU-EU Summit takes place at a time of unprecedented threats to global peace and security, ongoing conflicts in some regions of the world.

Other global challenges include an inclination to unilateralism on the part of certain states.

The Luanda Summit does, however, follow the success under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa of the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg.

The African Union and the European Union contributed significantly to the consensus achieved during South Africa’s year-long G20 Presidency on the key issues facing the global economy and human society.

South Africa, as a Member State of the AU, will prioritise support from the EU region for the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (STYIP) of the AU Agenda 2063.

The Summit is a platform for AU and EU member states to strengthen political and economic ties between two significant world regions.

The African Union will be led by host President João Lourenço as Chairperson of the AU, and His Excellency Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the AU Commission.

Europe will be represented by the President of the European Council, António Costa, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the Leaders of Denmark, France, Hungary, Croatia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Italy, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Portugal, Ireland and Germany.

The Seventh AU-EU Partnership Summit in Luanda will be underpinned by two Plenary Thematic Sessions, which illustrate established areas of cooperation between the African Union and the European Union, namely:

• Thematic Session I: Peace, Security and Governance and Multilateralism.
• Thematic Session II: Prosperity, People – Migration and Mobility.

President Ramaphosa is accompanied by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Ronald Lamola.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of International Relations and Cooperation.