The European Union steps up its support to Somalia with €200 million at the London Conference
High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini who represented the EU at today’s conference in London said: “Somalia’s future matters to Europe and our support matters to Somalia. The €200 million we have announced today strengthens the EU’s leading role in supporting the country’s development, stability and security. We already play a major role for peace in the country through the three active missions in the country as well as our support to the African Union peacekeeping mission AMISOM. We believe that the people of Somalia can and should shape the future of their country. We want Somalia to rise again – and today we demonstrate it in very practical terms.”
The development funding announced today will be channelled through the European Union Trust Fund for Africa, which aims to address the root causes of destabilization, forced displacement and irregular migration.
Neven Mimica, Commissioner in charge of International Cooperation and Development, added: “Today’s support package of €200 million is new and additional to what we already do in Somalia. It will focus on building effective and sustainable responses to security challenges, on creating economic opportunities and on building state legitimacy and democratic governance. We are also concerned by the severe drought in Somalia and the humanitarian challenges this brings. Together with EU Member States, we have already allocated than €460 million humanitarian and development assistance for that purpose. We call on other partners to stand up to the level of the challenge as well.”
The EU’s support will help to accelerate Somalia’s economic recovery. This will be done by supporting the reforms needed to ensure Somalia full re-engagement with the International Financial Institutions, access to multilateral finance and debt relief. This will also help laying the foundations for more inclusive, stable politics including a roadmap to a more inclusive electoral process in 2020.
The EU is a long standing partner to Somalia in development aid, peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid. For the period 2015-2020, the EU and its Member States cooperation including development, humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations amounts to €3.4 billion.
Background:
The Somalia Conference took place today in London, co-chaired by the Federal Government of Somalia, the United Nations and the United Kingdom. The Conference aims to agree a Security Pact which sets the foundations for Somalia long-term security and on a New Partnership for Somalia between the International Community and Somalia based on principles of mutual accountability. The Conference is also the opportunity to take stock of the response to the humanitarian crisis affecting Somalia.
Today’s support package comes on top of the €286 million, which the European Commission has allocated under the 11th European Development Fund (for the period 2014-2020), which focusses on strengthening state functions, improving food security and resilience as well as education for young people. EU financing is implemented mostly through grants implemented by UN agencies and international NGOs, or contributions to Trust Funds.
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