The EU’s executive arm said it wanted to reduce problems African countries face when professionals — particularly doctors and nurses — leave to take up better-paid jobs in Europe.

“Africa and the EU will specifically address the issue of migration of skilled labor such as health care workers and seek to minimize the negative impact of European recruitment in Africa, with lack of health work force capacity now recognized as a major barrier to progress toward the (United Nations) Millennium Development Goals,” it said.

A recent World Bank survey said 70 percent of recently graduated doctors and 62 percent of recently graduated nurses in Ethiopia plan to leave the country “whenever they get the chance.” An estimated 80,000 qualified people leave the African continent every year.

The EU said it would work with African Union countries to promote “circular migration” to encourage African workers in Europe to find work at home. It did not set out any formal suggestions but mentioned better links between African and EU universities and hospitals as one way of helping this happen.

EU and African Union leaders will meet in December to debate migration — including ways to fight human trafficking and protect victims.

They will also investigate ways to make it easier for migrants to send money back home — a practice that can serve as a form of development aid.

The summit will also cover efforts to halt deforestation, bringing developing countries into a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions and encouraging them to use more greener technology.

The EU paper said the block was planning to launch a global climate change alliance to help vulnerable countries cope with climate change. Africa is likely to suffer expanding deserts, water shortages and more floods and droughts that could undo years of development efforts, a January report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found.

Europe is a major donor to Africa, the world’s poorest continent. The EU alone gave $64.6 billion last year, a figure that does not include donations from individual EU governments.