Africa-Europe cooperation revisited

Almost 60 years after the Yaoundé Conventions (Cameroon), the cooperation between Africa and Europe which formally started at the institutional level of the Africa-European Union in the 1950s is being renewed in 2022, under the banner of "two unions, one common vision" and around a partnership of solidarity, security, peace, economic development and sustainable prosperity. Yet, when analysing this evolution, at least two questions need to be asked: what are the chances that this time the partnership between Africans and Europeans will be more like a "win-win" partnership? What are the unexplored possibilities for optimising cooperation and achieving mutually beneficial common goals? In this paper, we explore different aspects of economic relations, but especially trade relations, in an attempt to offer a new perspective for the development of cooperation between Africa and Europe. Methodologically, our approach encompasses a historical survey of trade in goods during the period of 2002–2021, albeit in the context of a contemporary understanding of both challenges and opportunities for the development of this Euro-African partnership.