LISBON, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The second European Union (EU)-Africa Summit, originally scheduled for 2003, opened here Saturday, bringing together leaders from 53 African and 27 EU countries. The following are the major topics of the summit.

    -- The summit will launch a "new partnership," while the leaders are expected to begin a series of five debates on topics including peace and security, human rights and governance, immigration and employment, the environment and trade.

    --The stickiest issue could be over trade, where Europe has failed to persuade many African countries to sign up to new pacts once existing agreements expire at the end of the year.

    -- The EU will launch a plan to raise roads, bridges and telecommunications connections, issues key to growth in Africa, and has a comprehensive to-do list in political, security and governance areas.

    -- EU countries such as France, Spain and Malta will be keen to discuss the immigration problem, with discussions expected on various ideas including an agreement for African nations to take back illegal immigrants from Europe in return for extra EU work visas.

    -- The questions of climate change and the environment will also be addressed among eight "action plans" identifying the main political priorities for the short-term, plus the policy commitments, programs and actions that will be needed to achieve them.

    -- Sudan's Darfur will not be part of the agenda although human rights and aid groups are pressing leaders to come up with more than rhetoric and to take action to help end the festering conflicts in the region.

    -- Zimbabwe is likely to feature when German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks for the EU during the rights and governance debate, while a series of protests have been scheduled on the sidelines of the summit, including some by Zimbabwean rights activists.

    -- The summit is expected to discuss a whole range of political themes, free of taboos, without any no-go areas, and to debate every subject with total freedom.