Portugal says EU-Africa summit impossible without Morocco

Portugal has never thought of holding a European Union-African summit without Moroccan presence, said Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Francisco Seixas Da Costa.

Answering a question by the Portuguese daily "Publico" on difficulties encountered by Portugal in holding the EU-Africa summit, he said it was Portugal which was behind the idea of holding the summit, adding that successive presidencies of the EU chose the Organization of African Unity as major interlocutor.

He stated that the OAU has a member which is not member of the United Nations Organization, SADR (the self-proclaimed Sahrawi republic), and it was impossible to solve the issue of representation.

The summit's agenda included political items (conflict prevention, democratic guarantees) and economic issues which are all issues that are of concern to all the African countries, said Da Costa.

For him, failure to hold the EU-African summit is an African failure, not a Portuguese one.