26 May 2011: The Second Africa-India Forum, which took place from 24-25 May 2011, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, concluded with the adoption of the Addis Ababa Declaration, in which the African Union (AU) and India underscore the importance of agreeing on a second committment period under the Kyoto Protocol as an indispensable step to preserve the integrity of the international climate change regime, while stressing the importance of the Bali Action Plan and operationalizing the Cancun Agreements.

The Forum aimed at strengthening the cooperation between Africa and India in the areas of: economics; politics; science, technology, research and development; social development and capacity building; tourism; infrastructure, energy and environment; and media and communication. Through the Addis Ababa Declaration, the AU and India agree to enhance their partnership to address global challenges, and a Framework for Enhanced Cooperation that substantiates this commitment for cooperation in the different areas addressed.

On climate change, the two sides urge the developed countries to take ambitious actions to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provide adequate financing and technology transfer to support developing countries’ efforts to effectively address the impact of climate change. They appeal to the developed countries to operationalize all the institutional arrangements included in the Cancun decisions and express their firm commitment to a balanced outcome at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC to be held in Durban, South Africa, at the end of 2011. In the Declaration, they also note the African common position on climate change.

The Framework for action identifies related areas such as renewable energy financing and capacity building in sustainable environmental practices as areas for enhanced cooperation. [AU Press Release][Addis Ababa Declaration][Framework for Enhanced Cooperation]