LISBON, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said Thursday that a summit between Europe and Africa will be held during Portugal's presidency of the European Union (EU) in the first half of 2021.
The Portuguese president told visiting Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on the sidelines of the second "Euro-African Forum", an initiative of the Portuguese Diaspora Council association, at the Carcavelos Campus of the New University of Lisbon, Portuguese Lusa news agency reported.
The Portuguese government has said that there will be an EU-Africa summit in the first half of 2021 during Portugal's EU presidency, although this announcement had not yet been made publicly, the president explained, according to Lusa.
He said that the summit is "ensured", no matter the outcome of the next legislative elections, scheduled for Oct. 6.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa has said earlier that the next Portuguese presidency of the EU in 2021 will have as its fundamental theme the relations between the EU and the African continent.
The first EU-Africa summit was promoted by Portugal during its EU presidency and took place in Cairo in 2000.
