Upon personal invitation of Klaus Rudischhauser, Deputy Director General, European Commission, DG DEVCO, I attended the above conference on the state of Africa-EU relations. The seminar was organised ahead of the next Africa-EU summit in November by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) together with the European Commission and the German Development Institute (DIE). It took place at the Academy of the KAS at the shore of Lake Como, Italy, from 23 to 25 of July.