President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are attending.

This is the first summit between these strategic partners since 2013.

South Africa is the only African country that has relations with the EU at this level and one of 10 internationally.

Their relationship is moving from one of dependency to partnership.

With economy topping the agenda,  President Cyril Ramaphosa will have another opportunity to showcase South Africa as an investment destination as part of his plans to draw a trillion rand into the country over the next five years.

The summit will also deal with international challenges like climate change, migration and human rights.

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Chairman of the EU summit Donald Tusk says mandatory quotas in ineffective and highly divisive.

The European Union is committed to reach a deal on accepting migrants by June.

Poland and neighbors Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are refusing to accept asylum seekers.

They say they cannot accommodate  large numbers of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds.

In any event, the migrants are more keen to settle in Western European countries.

Tusk, who’s a former Polish prime minister, has his work cut out driving a deal that will ease the pressure on Italy, Spain and other Mediterranean countries inundated with migrants.

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Closer examination shows there’s a tragic contradiction in the figures he cites in his state of union speech.

The number of people who succumb while making the crossing from Africa into Europe has indeed gone down in 2017.

But for those who brave the Mediterranean in unseaworthy boats the risk of dying  is greater.

The International Organization for migration figures show the number of arrivals have fallen more sharply than the number of deaths.

In 2015,  268 migrants arrived safely for every death.

Last year that figure was 70.

This year its fallen even further to 50.

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Morally and practically it’s a  controversial idea that still needs the backing of European Union  governments.

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The European Union’s managed to stem the influx of Syrian refugees and other migrants across the Agean Sea after by striking a deal with Turkey in March.

An increasing number of mostly African migrants are attempting to make the make the dangerous journey from Libya  across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

Nearly 50 000 people were rescued and brought to Italy this year.

More than 2 000 have died  after several boats capsized off the Libyan coast.

European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans proposes linking development and trade policies to cooperation on migration.

EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Friday will have a first exchange of views on the topic.

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