Excerpts From Final Communiqué – 16 June 2009
“1. The fifteenth ministerial Troika meeting between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU) was held in Luxembourg on June 16, 2009 under the Co–Chairs of Ambassador Bagudu M. Hirse, Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria and Mr. Tomáš Pojar, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic.
“36. ECOWAS and the EU reaffirmed the need to reinforce their cooperation in the area of migration and development. In this context, they welcomed the Declaration adopted at the second Euro-African Ministerial Conference on migration and development, held in Paris on November 25, 2008, which provides a good basis for developing their cooperation. The Declaration encompasses in a comprehensive and balanced way all the issues relating to migration, by addressing the facilitation of legal migration, the fight against illegal migration, as well as the synergies between migration and development. Moreover, the Declaration establishes a three year cooperation programme (2009-2011), which identifies concrete actions and measures to be taken in the relevant areas. Both Parties underlined their commitment to actively work for the implementation of the declaration and of its cooperation programme.
“37. ECOWAS informed the EU on the state of play of preparation of its regional action plan on migration and the EU reaffirmed its willingness to support it through the Regional indicative programme under the 10th EDF.
“38. The two Parties further agreed to step up expert-level discussions on migration related issues involving interested Member States in future meetings of the joint working group on migration, with a view to identifying concrete areas of cooperation that could be developed, in particular within the framework of the Regional indicative programme.”
For the full text of the Final Communiqué, click here.
MIGRANTS AT SEA 