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External policy of the European Union as it is defined by the Lisbon Treaty incorporates, among others, the development cooperation policy and the Common foreign and security policy. Development assistance, as a shared policy, represents a traditional form of cooperation between the Union and the developing countries and as such works as a mean to promote the objectives of its external policy. On the other hand the Common foreign and security policy was established by the Maastricht Treaty and until today the decisions made depend on the will of the Member states. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how the European Union uses the development cooperation to achieve the objectives of its external policy and to demonstrate, that using the means of the Common foreign and security policy is essential as well. To do this, the thesis will study the African Great Lakes region in particular.