Addis Ababa – The African Union and the European Union have launched a €19.9 million museum partnership aimed at transforming cultural cooperation between the two continents, with the programme set to benefit museums, artists, youth and local communities across Africa and Europe.
The African-European Museum Partnership (AEMP) was launched on Tuesday at the AU Headquarters, bringing together high-level dignitaries, ambassadors and leading museum directors from both continents. The initiative is funded by the European Union together with Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and was developed in partnership with the AU Commission.
The partnership traces its roots to the opening of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin in 2022, where a group of African and European museum directors agreed that too few platforms existed for museums to share knowledge and build partnerships beyond bilateral arrangements. That conversation led to an international forum in Dakar in April 2023, where sixty museum directors from twenty-eight African and twelve European countries gathered and adopted the Dakar Declaration on African-European Museum Cooperation, paving the way for Tuesday’s launch. 
AUC Acting Director for Social Development, Culture and Sports, Dr Angela Martins, set the tone at the launch ceremony. “Today, we witness the fruition of a pan-African ambition for cultural sovereignty and international collaboration. The African Union proudly stands behind this partnership, which empowers our institutions, professionals, and youth to claim their rightful place in shaping the global cultural landscape,” she said.
EU Chargée d’Affaires Karin B. Stanghed formally announced the launch, saying the programme would “transform the shared ambition of African and European museum directors into actionable progress; as it will protect heritage, promote cultural dialogue, engage youth, and foster sustainable growth through culture.”
Netherlands Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation Dewi van de Weerd, representing the co-financing Team Europe member states, said: “We really hope that this initiative will stand out as a best practice of cooperation on the basis of expertise and equality, strengthening networks and exchange between museums and makers.”
Prof. Hamady Bocoum, former Director of the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar and one of the initiators of the partnership, used his keynote address to signal a break from the past. “This partnership is not a one-way street; it is a bustling, multi-lane highway of exchange. We are dismantling old paradigms and building a new, equitable framework where African expertise and perspectives are not just included but are leading the conversation on our shared cultural patrimony,” he said.
His co-speaker, Dr Guido Gryseels, former Director General of the AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, Belgium, added: “Museums are not just repositories of the past; they are active laboratories for the future. By combining African and European collections, knowledge, and creativity, we can develop new narratives that resonate with global audiences.”
The AEMP is built around two core goals: strengthening EU-Africa and intra-Africa cultural cooperation while enhancing intercultural dialogue, and protecting and promoting African cultural heritage as a driver of social cohesion, cultural tourism, job creation and sustainable growth. Its activities are structured around three pillars covering exhibitions, collections and empowerment.
The programme will be implemented by the Goethe-Institut and Expertise France. Italy is contributing separately through a €4 million initiative called “African-Italian Museum Partnerships,” implemented by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Uganda.
