"I believe they [the projects] will make an important contribution to improving people's lives and putting the roadmap, which the African and EU Heads of States and Governments adopted to work," EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica said.
The projects include the provision of support to higher education institutions, technical and research assistance and the development of infrastructure in the continent. Under these projects the European Union plans to solve migration problems through strengthening dialogue with African countries, according to the press release.
"These first projects of the Pan-African program are evidence of the EU's strong determination to strengthen and deepen our strategic partnership with Africa and follow on directly from the commitments made at the 4th Africa — EU Summit earlier this year," Mimica added.
The European Union launched the Pan-African Program at the 4th Africa – EU Summit in April 2014. Under the program 845 million euros (just over one billion dollars) were allocated to the African continent as a whole over the next six years in order to increase region-wide mobility, strengthen Africa-EU trade relations and to create a joint mechanism for addressing global issues, including migration, climate change and security.
