European leaders urge cooperation with Africa

ACCRA, July 3 (Reuters) European Union leaders today urged closer cooperation with Africa on tough issues like immigration and development, saying an EU-Africa summit later this year should mark a turning point in their relations.

At an African Union summit in Ghana, where leaders debated integration similar to that achieved by the EU, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also called on Europe and Africa to develop partnerships in energy and climate change.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country took over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU on Sunday, said it was ''incomprehensible'' that Africa and Europe have not had a permanent, institutional dialogue.

''This hurts Europeans and Africans,'' Socrates told AU leaders at their summit, which was the first to invite the leader of the rotating EU presidency state to speak.

Socrates aims to use Portugal's EU presidency to launch dialogue with Africa at an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon in December. It will be the first summit between Europe and Africa in seven years.

''We hope that the summit will be a turning point for relations between the two continents,'' Socrates said.

''It can be one of the most significant events of 2007,'' Barroso said. ''It must launch a process, not a one-off event.'' A key hurdle for meetings between the African Union and EU in recent years has been a European travel ban on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Socrates has said Zimbabwe should not hold up closer EU-Africa ties.

Barroso said identified migration as a key issue for cooperation.

''We cannot, we will not stop migration,'' Barroso said.

''Migration should be a source of prosperity for both country of origin and country of destination, not a human tragedy.'' Countries in southern Europe, like Spain and Italy, have seen increasing flows of illegal immigrants from African, often through risky boat trips across the Mediterranean.

Barroso said Europe's ties with Africa must extend beyond development, to include boosting trade and establishing en energy partnership. Europe is increasingly seeking to diversity if energy suppliers.

REUTERS RKM RK2148