Bridging Continents Africa – Europe for Deforestation Free Supply Chains
The Eurotrip is an outreach activity of the Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Deforestation-Free Value Chains, which aims to support partner countries in their commitment to sustainable, deforestation-free and legal value chains, in compliance with the European Union Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EUDR). The Team Europe Initiative, supported by EU, Germany, Netherlands, France and Italy, is part of the Global Gateway strategy and pursues the overarching goal of building inclusive partnerships to reduce global commodity-driven deforestation and support the transition to sustainable, regenerative and climate-smart agriculture.
From 15 – 18 September 2025, 17 delegates from 12 African countries gathered in Brussels and Antwerp to gain first-hand technical insights on how the operationalisation of the EU Deforestation Regulation will be handled by Europeanactors. Both government and private sector representatives from relevant sectors of coffee and cocoa from Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia exchanged with key European public, private and civil society actors involved in the operationalisation of the regulation.
The programme of the 4-days trip included technical and multi-stakeholder exchanges with the European Commission (DG INTPA, DG ENV, DG TRADE, EEAS and JRC), the National Competent Authorities of Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, delegates from the European private sector, such as HACOFCO, Ferrero, Tchibo, the German Coffee Association, and from the European civil society, such as FERN, Preferred by Nature, Fairtrade as well as a vist to the Port of Antwerp.
