Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 27 January 2015: Climate change and radical extremism were the focus of a special meeting between the Chairperson of the African Union Commission H.E. Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Martine Lidegaard. They met on Tuesday 27 January 2015, in the margins of the 24th AU Summit of Heads of State and Government, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission emphasized Africa’s concerted efforts towards a successful Climate Change Summit in Paris. Most importantly, that Africa is working to ensure that its concerns are taken into consideration. “Africa is the least contributor, but the most affected,” she added, adding that “the Paris agreement should look at the issues that concern Africa.”

The Danish Foreign Minister shared the proposal for a dialogue between the European Union and Africa ahead of the climate change Summit in December 2015 in Paris.

On extremism, both the AU Chairperson and the Foreign Minister agreed on the need to look at radical extremism from a broad perspective, and simply as a security issue. They also agreed on the need to avoid stigmatizing any particular religion.