Rutte at the top of EU and Africa

abidjan - In Ivory Coast, a summit between the African Union and the European Union starts Wednesday. Three ministers from the Cabinet are present at the summit on Wednesday and Thursday: Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister Halbe Zijlstra of Foreign Affairs and Sigrid Kaag for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation.

The central theme of the meeting is youth. But it will mainly focus on how to prevent the young people of Africa from seeking their happiness in Europe.

African countries want financial help to offer their young people perspective. In 2015, the EU set up an Africa fund to make investments in African countries. This includes 3.1 billion euros, but must remain filled. Several EU countries have yet to put money into this.

In exchange, the EU wants African countries to cooperate better with the return of migrants. The EU also wants to make agreements with mainly North African countries to stop migrant flows. This is a similar deal as previously agreed with Turkey.