Abstract
The trilateral Africa-China-EU cooperation represents a unique opportunity for Africa’s development without ignoring the interests of each of the parties including the European Union (EU) and China. This paper aims at advancing the debate around trilateral development cooperation between the European Union (EU), China and Africa. The trilateral approach includes common interests for all parties and it can be an effective mechanism for achieving common goals on Africa. The paper examines the development of trilateralism as a cooperative strategy by the European Union (EU), China and Africa and as a policy tool to existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation efforts between the EU and China in the direction towards fostering Africa’s development. The paper focuses on Africa’s role through its regional organizations in the trilateral cooperation. Africa has the responsibility to be more active and coherent by providing the platform for dialogue to gain benefits from both the European traditional presence and from the Chinese emerging presence. The main question of the paper is how does the trilateral cooperation among European Union (EU), China and Africa work by taking into consideration the differences in EU and Chinese foreign aid models towards Africa’s development and the role of Africa in the trilateral cooperation. The paper provides policy recommendations for the effectiveness of the trilateral cooperation. On the one hand, Africa should have an advanced role in the trilateral cooperation and domestically African governments should take responsibility for achieving greater transparency in the receiving foreign aid spending. On the other hand, European Union (EU) and China should deal with their challenges and their common interests on Africa. China needs to consider the political aspects of development. European Union (EU) needs to revise its trade relations with Africa. The trilateral cooperation should be progressive, but it is essential to deal with global developmental challenges in a more effective multilateral manner.
Key words: European Union (EU), traditional actor, China, emerging actor, Africa’s role, trilateral cooperation, Africa’s development.
