War in Europe

The War in Ukraine and Food (In-)Security in Africa

In late November, IPDAL, the leading Portugese foreign policy think tank, FNF Madrid and the Universidade Europeia organized the 3rd Africa XXI conference in Lisbon. 

The interventions of relevant international organisations, the Portuguese government, foundations, think tanks and private sector leaders, allowed for an in-depth debate about the main issues facing the continent at the moment, particularly in the area of food insecurity as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

Ambassador Georges Chikoti, secretary general of the Organisation of African, Carribean and Pacific states, offered a keynote speech on the current challenges of multilateralism in Africa. This was followed by an experts’ panel on the threat of food insecurity as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, with the participation of Ambassador Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Economy and Blue Economy, Ambassador Rita Laranjinha, Director General for Africa of the European External Action Service, Mohammed Mouline, Director General of the Institut Royal des Études Stratégiques (IRES), and Damian Berger, co-founder and managing partner of the Middle East and North Africa research collective Ishtar Analytics.

In the afternoon Africa Advisor Daniel Mawonso Mendes presented an IPDAL report on the current state of multilateral trade relations in Africa, which was followed by a round table of the ambassadors of South Africa, Angola, Egypt, Morocco and Senegal to Portugal, who elaborated on the key insights of the previous presentation, relating them to their respective national realities. 

The conference’s closing statement was made by Portugal’s Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Francisco André, stressing the imperative for Portugal and Europe to maintain a solid, forward-looking partnership with Africa.