Austria has adopted its first comprehensive Africa Strategy. What does it mean for migration policy and what did the expert exchange at EU Migration Talks 2026 reveal about the road ahead?
What is Austria's Africa Strategy?
On 3 June 2026, the Austrian Council of Ministers formally adopted the Austrian Africa Strategy 2026–2029 — a landmark policy document that, for the first time, brings together Austria's foreign policy, security policy, development cooperation, economic policy, migration policy, cultural, and climate objectives into a single coherent framework for partnership with the African continent.
Developed under the lead of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (MFA), the strategy aims to move away from the traditional donor-recipient model towards equal, mutually beneficial partnerships. Its development involved an inter-ministerial working group and consultations with 54 African States, the African Union, the United Nations, civil society, and academic institutions in Africa and Austria. At the political level, 121 bilateral meetings were held, complemented by 35 meetings with public and private actors in Austria.
The Austrian Africa Strategy 2026–2029 is structured around four thematic priority areas: (1) Stability, Security & Resilience; (2) Economic Cooperation; (3) Migration & Mobility; (4) Education and Science Cooperation, Cultural Cooperation, and Environmental Protection. While migration is framed as a cross-cutting theme running through all four pillars, pillar three is specifically dedicated to Migration & Mobility.
Under Pillar 3, the strategy adopts a comprehensive whole-of-route approach, addressing the complex drivers of migration as well as transit and destination contexts in an integrated way and through deepened State cooperation. Austria’s position is clear: irregular migration should be reduced, while regular, skills-oriented pathways should be expanded. To this end, Austria supports skills-oriented mobility through the Red-White-Red Card system, while expressly committing to prevent brain drain from partner countries. The strategy furthermore calls to strengthen refugee protection and creating opportunities in regions of origin, to establish new migration and readmission agreements, establishing new and innovative solutions of external migration policy, and combating people-smuggling and strengthening border control measures.
*Translation by EMN Austria. Original German: "Migration ist ein multidimensionales Phänomen, das eines ganzheitlichen Zugangs bedarf. Migrationspolitik ist eine gesamtstaatliche und gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe."
Why now? The context behind the strategy
The Austrian Africa Strategy 2026–2029 emerges at a moment of significant global transformation. Population dynamics, rapid urbanization, economic growth, geopolitical shifts, and the rising weight of African States in multilateral fora all have direct implications for Austrian interests — in security, energy supply, economic resilience, migration, and climate.
Africa’s youth population is the largest globally and is projected to double to over 830 million by 2050. Overall population growth is rapid: Africa’s total population has exceeded 1.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach about 2.5 billion by 2050, meaning that a large share of global population and labour‑force growth will come from African youth.
Key characteristics of African migration:
- 45.8 million international migrants from Africa (around 3% of the continent’s overall population).¹
- More than half (55%) of African cross-border migration takes place within the continent itself, reflecting both free movement arrangements and major cross-border displacement within the region.¹
- 24% of international migrants from Africa live on the European continent.¹
- The majority arrived through regular pathways — 62%² in the period 2014–2023 (looking at the EU only), primarily for family-related reasons but increasingly also for employment-related reasons.
- Irregular migration remains a significant and often life-threatening phenomenon: tens of thousands of deaths were documented along Sahara, Central Mediterranean, and Atlantic routes since 2014.³
- Africa is marked by the coexistence of major refugee-hosting and refugee-origin countries: hosting more than 40 million internally displaced persons, refugees, and asylum-seekers — one third of the global refugee population.⁴
- Internal displacement in Africa remains driven mainly by conflict and violence, though disaster displacement is also substantial in several countries.¹
Sources: ¹ IOM (2026): World Migration Report 2026. ² Münz, R. and Yaryyeva, J. (2025): African Migrants in Europe, based on Eurostat statistics on first residence permits. ³ IOM (2024): Africa Migration Report (Second edition). ⁴ UNHCR (2024): Refugees in Africa, based on UNHCR statistics.
African Migration Patterns
Source: IOM (2026): World Migration Report 2026, p. 44.
The EU Migration Talks event 2026
About the event
The EU Migration Talks is an annual event organized by the IOM Country Office for Austria as National Contact Point in the European Migration Network (EMN) in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. Each edition focuses on an emerging migration topic with the aim to foster exchange amongst Austrian ministries, agencies and departments, and reflecting on the topic at hand through contributions from international organizations, partner countries, academia, and civil society.
The 2026 edition turns the focus to Africa, reflecting the adoption of Austria's first comprehensive Africa Strategy and examining migration as a cross-sectoral policy field in the context of EU–Africa cooperation.
On 2 July 2026, EMN Austria held the EU Migration Talks 2026 in Vienna, bringing together around 60 participants from Austrian ministries and agencies, as well as EU Member States and African embassies.©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
Why EMN Austria chose this topic
The EU Migration Talks event 2026 was deliberately designed around the Austrian Africa Strategy 2026–2029 as the central case study for a question that sits at the heart of contemporary migration governance: what does a whole-of-government approach look like in practice?
The event is additionally inspired by a forthcoming EMN publication entitled "From Policy to Practice: Implementing a Whole-of-Government Approach to Migration" – an EMN inform that examines how coordinated, cross-ministerial approaches to migration governance translate into coherent policy outcomes. The EU Migration Talks 2026 brought the publication's core questions into a live expert dialogue, applying them to the specific and timely context of EU–Africa migration cooperation ahead of the publication's release.
Key takeaways
In his keynote, IOM Sudan’s Chief of Mission Dr. Mohamed Refaat, grounded the discussion in the realities of one of the gravest humanitarian crises globally today. The situation in Sudan demonstrates how the humanitarian imperative, displacement, regional stability and migration governance are deeply interconnected. Drawing on IOM's operational experience on the ground, the keynote highlighted that the majority of those affected remain in Sudan and in neighbouring countries, making support for a concerted regional response, local actors, and frontline institutions, together with investments in long-term resilience across communities, institutions, and systems equally crucial as immediate humanitarian action. IOM argues that sustained and principled Europe–Africa cooperation is essential to address both immediate needs and longer-term consequences of the conflict.
Mohamed Refaat, Chief of Mission, IOM Sudan, keynote speaker at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The event continued with expert inputs. Stefan Scholz presented Austria’s new Africa Strategy from the perspective of the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, which led its development. The strategy follows a whole-of-nation approach, involving a broad range of stakeholders and aiming to deliver long-term benefits for both sides of the partnership. Migration is framed both as a standalone objective and as a cross-cutting issue across all four pillars, with policy coherence across migration, trade, development, climate and security policies as the key to success. Austria wants to stablish fair and transparent rules, promote regional mobility, link development and the economy, and work together to counter brain drain, also through return support programmes.
Envoy Stefan Scholz, Head of Division II.7 Sub-Saharan Africa, African Union, MFA, at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The next input, delivered by Tobias Molander from the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, addressed the external dimension of migration policy in cooperation with African States, stressing that migration between Africa and Europe presents both significant opportunities and complex challenges. He underlined that international cooperation has evolved from limited engagement to strong and mutually beneficial partnerships. Taking a comprehensive approach to migration, Austria addresses the full spectrum of migration governance. This includes protection of refugees, prevention of irregular migration, effective returns, supporting sustainable reintegration and recovery as well as promoting legal pathways for labour mobility and skills development in line with the needs of the Austrian labour market. Achieving these goals requires strong and mutually beneficial partnerships with African countries and driving innovative solutions.
Tobias Molander, Special Representative for External Migration Policy and for Migration Affairs (EU and International), MOI, at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The third input brought in the perspective of Kenya as a key EU partner in East Africa and an important country of origin and transit. Valerie Rugene, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Embassy of Kenya in Vienna, reflected on the partnership with Austria and Europe. Kenya and Austria share a strong bilateral foundation built on trust, diplomacy, and growing practical engagement between Nairobi and Vienna. Recent labour mobility agreements illustrate mutual benefits: they help address labour shortages in Europe while creating opportunities for Kenya’s young and skilled workforce, linking skills, opportunity, and shared development.
Ambassador Valerie Rugene, Deputy Permanent Representative, Embassy of Kenya in Vienna, at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The fourth input by Anna Knoll brought an independent analytical perspective from the think-tank European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), focusing on what makes Europe–Africa migration partnerships effective over the long term. She argued that the challenge is no longer creating new partnership frameworks, but investing in the institutions, systems and relationships that enable them to deliver lasting results. Drawing on examples from labour mobility, she highlighted the fragmented European migration landscape and the need to move beyond pilot projects towards stronger governance systems. She also stressed that successful partnerships require recognising and managing trade-offs, rather than assuming simple win-win solutions, and should be assessed not only through short-term migration outcomes but also through trust, credibility and the quality of long-term relationships.
Anna Knoll, Head of Migration and Mobility Team, ECDPM, at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The fifth and final input added a civil society perspective, highlighting voices that are often underrepresented in migration policy, such as migrant women and diaspora communities. Miriam Mona Mukalazi from the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) emphasized that these groups should be meaningfully included, adequately supported, and engaged as partners in the design, implementation, and evaluation of migration policies. The input also underlined that migration must be understood within wider dynamics of conflict, climate change, and the global rise of authoritarian regimes.
Miriam Mona Mukalazi, Africa Policy Programme, VIDC, at EU Migration Talks 2026. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
The following panel discussion and audience Q&A produced a rich exchange across all five inputs. The following reflects the key themes and debates that emerged across the afternoon.
Panel discussion at EU Migration Talks 2026. From left: Envoy Stefan Scholz, Tobias Molander, Ambassador Valerie Rugene, Anna Knoll, Miriam Mona Mukalazi. ©MoI/Gerd Pachauer
What happens next?
The adoption of the Austrian Africa Strategy 2026–2029 marks the beginning, not the end, of a process. Implementation will be driven by a newly appointed Africa Commissioner within the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (MFA), coordinating across ministries and regularly reporting on key indicators in migration, economic cooperation, and stability. An inter-ministerial coordination platform will be established under the MFA's umbrella.
Austria's existing institutional footprint in Africa — 11 embassies, 3 cultural forums, 3 cooperation offices, 36 honorary consulates, 6 economic centres, and 4 military attachés across 64 locations — will be reoriented in line with the strategy's priorities, with a focus on where Austrian capacities can generate demonstrable, targeted impact.
The EU Migration Talks 2026 took place at a moment of genuine strategic significance — Austria had just adopted its first comprehensive Africa Strategy, and the questions it raises about equal partnership, migration governance, and cross-sectoral cooperation are ones that will shape Austrian and European policy for years to come. The event brought together the voices needed to move that conversation forward: government, international organizations, partner countries, research, and civil society. EMN Austria will continue to provide a platform for this exchange — and will share updates on the forthcoming EMN publication "From Policy to Practice: Implementing a Whole-of-Government Approach to Migration" in due course.
About EMN Austria
The European Migration Network (EMN) is coordinated by the European Commission, with National Contact Points (NCPs) established in each EU Member State. The IOM Country Office for Austria has been designated by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior as Austria's NCP. EMN Austria provides objective, reliable, and up-to-date information on migration and asylum in Austria, contributing to EU-level comparability and informing both policy and public debate.
More information: www.emn.at