Portuguese Presidency promotes migratory dialogue with African partners


 9 maio 2021
Portuguese Presidency promotes migratory dialogue with African partners

The Ministry for Home Affairs will promote, on 11 May, the Ministerial Conference on the Management of Migratory Flows, under the framework of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

 

The Conference, which will be held at the Centro Cultural de Belém from 9 a.m., in a hybrid format, is one of the main initiatives of the Presidency's agenda in the area of Migrations, as an opportunity to deepen the political dialogue with North African countries.

 

The opening session will be hosted by the Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Eduardo Cabrita, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Margaritis Schinas, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Mrs. Ylva Johansson, and the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mrs. Amira Elfadil.

 

The conference will be attended by Ministers of Interior from EU Member States and Ministers and representatives from Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Tunisia, as well as the chairs of the regional Euro-African dialogue processes, the Rabat and Khartoum Process. Representatives of FRONTEX, EASO, UNHCR, IOM and ICMPD will also attend the meeting.

 

Migration policies and border management are priorities on the agenda of the Ministry for Home Affairs under the Presidency, through an integrated approach which reconciles the importance of a correct management of migratory flows between countries of origin and destination, with the need to combat human trafficking, in parallel with the implementation of common return policies and the strengthening of legal and safe migration channels.

 

Being the dialogue with third countries of origin and transit, notably in North Africa, fundamental, the Conference will be a privileged space to address issues of common interest on migratory flows and to lay the basis for deeper initiatives in the future, through a broad EU-Africa multilateral dialogue.

 

A Press Conference with the Portuguese Minister for Home Affairs and the European Commissioner Ylva Johansson is scheduled for 1.30 p.m, Lisbon time.