As African leaders prepare for the 7th African Union–European Union Summit in Luanda on 24–25 November 2025, they should reassess the continent’s trade and aid relationship with the EU in light of persistent structural imbalances. More than sixty years after the formal end of colonial rule, Africa’s trade profile with Europe remains highly extractive and minimally transformative, dominated by raw material exports rather than diversified, higher value‑added goods.
The first AU–EU summit, held in Cairo in 2000, promised a partnership based on equality, mutual respect and shared prosperity, yet Africa’s economic diversification has advanced only marginally. According to Eurostat, between 2022 and 2024 minerals and fuels made up 53% of Africa’s exports to the EU (€194bn), led by Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Angola and Egypt. Vehicles and parts (6%), electrical machinery (5%), cocoa products (3%), apparel (3%) and other items such as gems, fertilisers, iron and steel together accounted for only about 7% of exports.
Colonial-era trade patterns linger
This pattern mirrors the economic geography shaped in the colonial era, when infrastructure and trade routes were designed to move unprocessed resources from Africa’s interior to European markets. It also sits uneasily with the AU’s Agenda 2063, which prioritises industrialisation, value addition and economic diversification. A key question for the summit, therefore, is whether current AU–EU trade agreements and EU “Aid for Trade” are helping to change this profile or locking it in.