EU-Africa Summit in Luanda: From Promises to Projects on Migration, Trade and Critical Minerals

European and African leaders moved to turn pledges for closer cooperation into concrete plans as the EU-African Union summit in Luanda reached its concluding stage. Delegations focused on migration, trade and cooperation on global challenges, while broader geopolitical tensions cast a shadow over some discussions.

"Europe and Africa are pushing for a stronger multilateral order, one that protects the United Nations Charter, reinforces the rules-based approach, and brings stability and predictability to a world that urgently needs both,"

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa wrote on X.

The summit marks 25 years of formal relations between the EU and the African Union. It followed a G20 meeting in South Africa that highlighted geopolitical fault lines and competing international interests.

Host President João Lourenço urged renewed support for multilateralism, noting rising global tensions and conflicts across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. African delegations included leaders such as Cyril Ramaphosa, William Ruto and Ismail Omar Guelleh.

EU participation included a number of senior figures who traveled to Luanda to signal Brussels’ intent to deepen partnership. A few officials, however, were prevented from attending by travel disruptions, and some high-profile visitors departed before the summit's final day.

Where cooperation meets conditions

Speakers emphasized mutual benefits from a closer partnership. Leaders stressed that investments must create local jobs and value rather than focusing solely on extraction. Analysts warned that words will count for little without follow-through if Europe wishes to remain Africa’s principal partner.

The EU remains the continent’s largest source of foreign direct investment and trading partner. Trade in goods and services between the two reached about €467 billion ($538 billion) in 2023. At the same time, global competition for Africa’s critical minerals and energy resources is intensifying, with China, the United States and Russia deepening ties on the continent.

Brussels pressed for greater cooperation on curbing irregular migration and for access to minerals crucial for the EU’s green transition. African governments pushed back that investment strategies must prioritize job creation, local processing and sustainable development.

To advance those goals, the EU is promoting its Global Gateway initiative — a broad infrastructure and investment plan intended as a quality-focused alternative to other external actors. One flagship example discussed at the summit is the Lobito corridor, a railway project linking mineral-rich regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia to the Atlantic coast, developed in partnership with multiple international backers.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a business forum alongside the summit: "This continent has everything it takes to deliver prosperity at home and to shape the global economy of tomorrow. The opportunities are clear. But realising them will require the right kind of investments."

The closing sessions aimed to translate political commitments into specific cooperation packages on migration, trade, infrastructure and mineral value chains — with an eye to measurable follow-up and financing arrangements in the months ahead.