Luxembourg Minister for Cooperation and Humanitarian Action, Romain Schneider, has signed the new Indicative Programme of Cooperation 2016-2020 with Aïchatou Kané, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration of Niger, on the sidelines of the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development in New York.
The cooperation agreement was signed at the Summit, where 17 goals for sustainable development were adopted for the 2030 Agenda over the weekend.
In keeping with this, the Luxembourg-Niger partnership will aim to commit to this agenda, focusing on basic education and vocational training, access to water and sanitation and ultimately rural development. The collaboration will particularly target vulnerable regions in the southeast of Niger, which has been ravaged by the adverse effects of climate change and the violence of Boko Haram.
During the meeting, the two ministers also took stock of the security situation in Niger, as well as preparations for the 2016 elections which will take place in Niger.
In his capacity of President of the EU Council, Minister Schneider also engaged in discussions with representatives of Concord, the European NGO network and Circle, with whom he discussed the implementation of the 17 sustainable developments goals (SDG). The Council of Ministers of Development and the Environment have planned for a first informal exchange to take place in this regard in late October.
The Minister also exchanged views on this subject, as well as migration, with a delegation of members of the Development Committee of the European Parliament.
Minister Schneider was also in attendance at a meeting of Ministers of EU Development, chaired by the High Representative Federica Mogherini. At the meeting, participants spoke of the potential of development cooperation and humanitarian assistance to help alleviate the refugee crisis and meet some of the root causes of such movements.
The Minister himself emphasised that these two key factors needed to be part of a wide range of EU internal and external policy instruments capable of responding to emergencies and needs in both the short-term and long-term.
Romain Schneider also used the opportunity of his visit to New York to meet with the new Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, to confer on the preparation of the Global Humanitarian Summit in 2016, one of the priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU Council in the humanitarian sector.
In addition, Minister Schneider met with Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United National Population Fund. The Grand Duchy supports various programmes conducted by this UN agency, particularly with regard to female genital mutilation.
Photo by Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (L-R: Romain Schneider; Aïchatou Kané)
