Hosted and organized by the City and Metropolis of Montpellier, the Euro-Africa Biennale 2025 brought together leaders from cities, networks, institutions, academia, business, and civil society across both continents. As scientific partner, the City Diplomacy Lab contributed to the Biennale’s overall conceptual framework and provided methodological guidance throughout the program.
From October 6 to 12, 2025, the Biennale opened an ambitious space for dialogue on shared priorities such as climate resilience, food systems, global health, digital sovereignty, mobility, and inclusive governance. It marked a significant step toward reimagining Euro-African cooperation through more collaborative, balanced, and grounded approaches.
The Congress
The Euro-Africa Congress, held during the first two days of the Biennale, generated more than thirty hours of plenaries, roundtables, and thematic workshops. Among its about 400 speakers were elected officials, scholars, activists, entrepreneurs, international organizations, and representatives of civil society from both continents.
The City Diplomacy Lab’s researchers, Lorenzo Kihlgren Grandi and Sami Yassine Turki, acted as rapporteurs of the Congress. Their concluding synthesis captured the key messages emerging from the two days of exchanges, including:
- the central role of trust as a condition for long-term cooperation
- the need for more symmetrical and mutually respectful partnerships
- the value of diasporas as strategic actors of Euro-African cooperation
- the importance of innovation not only as technology but as governance ecosystem
- the necessity of multilevel and multi-stakeholder dialogue
- the emergence of transdisciplinary approaches grounded in shared knowledge
- the importance of long-term commitments, continuous evaluation, hybrid financing, and reciprocal training
This concluding text, translated from the original French, reflects the key messages and thematic insights presented during the Congress.
The Diaspora Assembly
On the third day, the Biennale hosted the Diaspora Assembly, facilitated by City Diplomacy Lab Director Lorenzo Kihlgren Grandi. This gathering placed diasporas at the center of Euro-African cooperation, highlighting their contributions through knowledge transfer, cultural innovation, entrepreneurship, and community leadership.
During the Assembly, diasporas became co-authors of a renewed approach to cooperation. Participants co-drafted the Montpellier Charter, a collective framework intended to guide future projects and partnerships. The Charter was structured around four phases of a cooperation project:
- emergence of the idea and participatory design
- definition of strategy and identification of partnerships
- joint implementation
- inclusive monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge capitalization
The Assembly featured thematic workshops and was documented by rapporteurs from diaspora organizations. Their work translated lived experiences into actionable recommendations.
The Montpellier Charter will be released soon, and it will serve as a shared reference tool for cities, networks, and organizations committed to building fair, reciprocal, and forward-looking Euro-African cooperation.
