Foreign Affairs Council: Main results

EU News 159/2016

Council of the European Union
12/05/2016

Migration and development
Ministers focused on the implementation of the Valletta action plan six months after its adoption. They took note of the state of play of the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. Projects worth more than EUR 750 million in favour of the Sahel and Lake Chad regions, as well as the Horn of Africa have already been approved.

They also reviewed the state of play of  high-level dialogues with partner countries. The Council also discussed the internally displaced persons and forced displacement, and exchanged views on how to best support refugees and displaced people in long lasting crises.

Revision of the European consensus on development
The Council had an orientation debate on the revision of the European consensus on Development in light of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, and two thematic discussions one on joint programming and the other on the engagement of the private sector.

The High Representative underlined that the EU should continue to be visible and engaged in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. She also stressed the importance of working together - EU and members states together - to make development instruments more effective on the ground. Today's commitment of the Council to step up joint programming of EU and member states' development assistance is a major progress in this regard.

Afghanistan
Over lunch, EU development ministers were joined by Afghan minister for Finance, Eklil Ahmad Hakimi. Minister Hakimi presented the new Afghan national development framework outlining the government's reform agenda in the run-up to the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan on 5 October 2016. Ministers welcomed the progress made on reforms and encouraged the continuation of their swift implementation. The High Representative underlined the EU's continued engagement in Afghanistan, both politically and financially with a high level of development assistance of EUR 200 million per year until 2020.

Source and additional information:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/fac/2016/05/12/

Mr Eklil Ahmad HAKIMI, Afghan Minister of Finance; Ms Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.Shoot location: Brussels - BELGIUM Shoot date: 12/05/2016 Copyright: No commercial use. Credit 'The European Union' URL

 

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