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Emergency Fund for Africa high on agenda of Valletta migration summit

Xinhua, November 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

A new Emergency Fund for Africa with seed funding of 1.8 billion euros will be high on agenda of the upcoming migration summit in Valletta, as European Council President Donald Tusk here on Tuesday said the fund will help offer peoples of Africa a better future.

"Economy, stability and security as well as governance and the rule of law are the three key challenges (for the Continent of Africa)," said Tusk when addressing the special session at Malta's Parliament.

He said the summit, which will gather several leaders from European and African countries, will be concrete and operational action.

"Africa and Europe are not inventing a new political framework for migration and development. We have it already, most recently reaffirmed at our last EU-Africa Summit in Brussels. Rather, we are setting out a very concrete roadmap to put some meat on the principles both sides agree on," he said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was expected on Thursday to sign the EU's Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, one of the tools set up to urgently respond to the current refugee crisis.

This Trust Fund will receive 1.8 billion euros of funding from the European Commission, complemented with funding from a number of EU Member States and other donors.

The Commission said the proposal of setting up the fund aimed to help foster stability in the regions in Africa and to contribute to better migration management. More specifically, it will help address the root causes of destabilization, forced displacement and irregular migration, by promoting economic and equal opportunities, security and development.

The proposal to set up the Trust Fund will be submitted to EU Member States. It is the Commission's objective to complete the necessary procedures in time for the Valletta Summit, when the EU will meet with key African countries to discuss migration and the refugee crisis.

The two-day summit will bring together European and African Heads of State and Government in an effort to strengthen cooperation in the area of migration and address the current challenges and opportunities. A large number of international and regional organisations, such as the African Union Commission, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, the UN, the UN's Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), have also been invited to participate. Endit