On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, African Union (AU) Commission President Moussa Faki Mahamat, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres reaffirmed their determination, in New York on Sunday 23 September, to cooperate more closely in order to address global challenges together, notably peace and security.
At this third trilateral AU-EU-UN meeting, the three organisations announced their intention to step up their coordination and cooperation at the political, economic and operational level on a whole set of issues, particularly in the fields of peace and security, especially on mediation and the prevention of conflicts, implementation of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the African Union's 2063 agenda, sustainable and inclusive peace, human rights, the fight against climate change and the implementation of AU and UN reforms. These were the terms of the final statement from the meeting.
The three parties in this cooperation commend the results obtained by the joint AU-EU-UN working group on the situation of migrants in Libya (working group launched at the AU-EU summit in Abidjan in November 2017), in terms of migrant and refugee protection and of the voluntary return of nearly 30,000 migrants since then.
The three organisations will continue to work closely together to support the Sahel countries and the long term stabilisation of the region.
In the spirit of the Abidjan summit, the AU, EU and UN also recorded in writing that it is imperative to place young people at the centre of their joint action, in order to respond to the challenges of the future and to take account of the needs and aspirations of young generations.
The AU, EU and UN plan to strengthen their cooperation in order to improve young people's employment by investing in education and quality training, and by promoting a match between qualifications and market needs. The senior leaders of the three organisations envisage meeting at least once per month to review progress achieved and to explore new fields for cooperation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)