On 14 and 15 November 2018, Senior officials from across Europe and Africa will meet for the third time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to follow up on the progress made in their cooperation to find solutions to the migration challenge. The Joint Valletta Action Plan, adopted by European and African leaders at the Migration Summit in 2015, framed the decision to respond together to migration into five priority domains. Since then common work has mobilised more than EUR 11.7 bn for more than 1,200 projects and policies.
Africa and the European Union have embarked on a positive journey to manage migration and to address its root causes. This meeting is one notable step in this positive direction. Ethiopia as a country of origin, transit, and destination for migrants is always ready to contribute its part to the success of this partnership.
African governments simply cannot afford to be complacent in the face of the tragedies suffered by migrants taking a perilous journey that we witness so frequently.
Ethiopia is making every effort to improve the situation of refugees including through the adoption of an out-of-camp policy, and through the provision of basic services such as the issuance of birth certificates.
In the framework of the Job Alliance between the EU and Africa, new industrial parks will be created in the proximity of the refugee camps where 30% of the jobs will be allocated to the refugees and the rest to host communities. This is expected to give hope to the refugees until more sustainable solutions are found.
The recent breakthrough in peace and normalization of relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea has brought positive changes to the Horn of Africa- a region which used to be synonymous with conflict and instability. The winds of change, reform and rapprochement initiated in Ethiopia since April will also undoubtedly contribute to the efforts exerted by both Africa and Europe with regard to migration. To sustain the initiatives, however, more robust lines of cooperation and partnership with a strong regional focus should be devised.
A long-term collective vision on migration needs a lot of collaborative effort and deliberations. Our focus should be on keeping migrants from leaving their countries in the first place. The best viable solution to keep aspiring migrants in their countries is ensuring economic development and creating opportunities.
