Brussels, 06/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - Maciej Popowski, Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service (EEAS), has assumed the chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) for one year, from 1 January 2014. This coming year, the chairmanship of the CGPCS will be jointly held by the European Commission with the EEAS and will continue the work carried out in 2013 under the chairmanship of the United States.
“Pirate attacks over the past year have dropped by 95% but the fight against piracy is not yet won. It is vital that the international community continues to work together to stamp out piracy and consolidate the gains we have already made”, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, who is also Vice-President of the European Commission, has said.
In order to achieve this, the European Union plans to work with all the stakeholders in the region and with the international community, in line with the objectives set during the international conference for a New Deal with Somalia, held in Brussels on 16 September 2013 under the joint chairmanship of the Somali government and the EU (see EUROPE 10923).
As chair of the CGPCS, the EU will not lose sight of the humanitarian cost of piracy, the European Commission stresses. The chairmanship of the Contact Group is a joint endeavour of the EEAS and the European Commission. The CGPCS was created on 14 January 2009, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1851 (2008), to facilitate the coordination of action among more than 60 states and organisations to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. (AN/transl.jl)