Valletta summit on Migration
Valletta, Malta,
11-12 November 2015
By: Mohamed
Adel
The Valletta
Summit on Migration will be held in Valletta, Malta, on 11-12 November, at the Mediterranean
Conference Centre.
The summit
will bring together European and African heads of state or government in an
effort to strengthen cooperation in the area of migration. It will address the
challenges and the opportunitiesof migration.
The meeting
in Valletta will be hosted by the Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The President
of the European Council, Donald Tusk will chair the meeting. The President of
the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU High Representative of the
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, Minister of
Immigration and Asylum of Luxembourg and President of the Council Jean
Asselborn and Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven
Mimica, will be representing the EU together with President Tusk.
63 leaders from Africa and EU member states are expected
to attend. A large number of international and regional organisations, such as
the African Union Commission, the ECOWAS Commission, the UN, UNHCR, IOM, and
the IFRC, have also been invited to participate in the Summit. All in all up to
93 delegations should take part.
The official
arrival of the leaders will start at 15.30 on Wednesday 11 November, in front
of the Auberge de Castille in Valletta. At 16.45 there will be the official
handshake, followed by a short opening ceremony, with the unveiling of a
monument and a minute of silence – commemorating those who have lost their
lives.
At 18.00 the
opening session will start at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, immediately followed
by the first working session at 18.30. A working dinner will be held at the
same location at 20.30.
On Thursday
12 June arrivals will start from 08.00 and at 09.00, there will be a signature ceremony
for the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The summit will resume with the
second working session at 09.30. The final press conference is expected to
start at 13.30.
At the end of
the meeting leaders are expected to adopt a joint political summit declaration
and a detailed action plan.
In the
margins of the summit: Signature of Common agenda on migration and mobility
with Ethiopia on Wednesday 11 November at 16:45h.
1This note has been drawn up under the responsibility
of the press office.
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Background to
the Valletta summit
Following
numerous tragedies in the Mediterranean, the special meeting of the European
Council on 23 April decided to mobilise all efforts at its disposal to prevent
further loss of life at sea and to tackle the root causes of the migration
crisis, in cooperation with the countries of origin and transit.
Leaders
pledged to reinforce the EU's political cooperation with African partners at
all levels in order to tackle the causes of illegal migration and combat the
smuggling and trafficking of human beings. They also called for a summit to
discuss migration issues with African countries concerned,
which
Malta offered to host.
The summit,
which will build on existing cooperation processes between Europe and Africa, particularly the Rabat and Khartoum
processes on migration, and the EU-Africa Dialogue on Migration and Mobility,
will aim to set out a number of collective actions in a comprehensive manner.
This will include long term but also short term measures which can be
implemented immediately. The summit is also expected to mobilise additional
financial resources, in particular Through the
EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, and reinforce technical cooperation to
implement concrete actions.
Discussions
among participants at the summit and priority actions will focus on five
specific areas:
Root causes
The summit is
expected to address the root causes of migration by working to help create
peace, stability and economic development in
the countries of origin and transit. This will entail efforts to support job
creation, education and vocational training. It should also include support to
SMEs, access to finance, facilitation for
investments as well as cheaper and safer transfers of remittances.
It will also
include commitments for increased support to diplomatic initiatives and
conflict prevention, as well as measures to counter radicalisation and violent
extremism. The summit should equally consider various projects to support state
building, rule of law and good governance in countries of origin and transit.
Legal
migration
Leaders are expected
to discuss how to promote legal channels for migration and mobility from and
between African countries. This will include issues such as working towards
mutual recognition of academic qualifications and professional certificates. In
particular, leaders will be looking at doubling the number of scholarships for
students and academic staff through the Erasmus+
programme
and launching pilot projects that would pool offers for legal migration by
participating EU member
states.
Protection
The summit
will explore ways to reinforce protection of refugees and other displaced
persons.
Leaders are
likely to pledge increased efforts to prevent further loss of life at sea by
continued Search and
rescue efforts by all sides. They should also express support for EU, African
and global increased resettlement efforts and agree on providing humanitarian
assistance to countries most
affected by
forced displacement.
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Tackling
trafficking
The summit
should call for further support to the rule of law and border management
authorities in order to tackle smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human
beings. Among other actions leaders are expected to step up capacity building
to counter production and use of forged documents,
including
by engaging with Frontex and Europol.
Return and
readmission
Leaders are
expected to make progress on return arrangements and readmission agreements. In
particular, they should strengthen cooperation in order to facilitate the
return and sustainable reintegration of irregular migrants, both from EU member
states and associated countries and from African countries of transit and
destination. The summit should also call for strengthening the capacity of
authorities of countries of origin to respond to readmission applicants. A
special emphasis is expected to be put on identification and issuance of travel
documents.
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