The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

13 APRIL 2006, ACP HOUSE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

Honourable Ministers, Honourable Guests, Distinguished Delegates,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

It is a great privilege to welcome you all to the 1^st Meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of Asylum, Migration and Mobility. Most of you have never been here before - please consider ACP House as your House, this is home to you and I am pleased to assure you that the ACP Secretariat is at your disposal during your stay.

For the 1^st time in its history, the ACP Group of States is considering the very critical issues of Asylum, Migration, and Mobility in a coordinated manner.  During the last 2 days, the preparatory Technical Meeting of Senior Officials has discussed all the issues you will examine during your Meeting. I reckon the discussion and inputs have been very fruitful, and that some delegates worked until late last night to ensure that the documents presented to you, reflect the consensus position of ACP States, and that the sum of best practices of each of the 6 regions of the ACP Group will define an ACP Strategy for Asylum, Migration and Mobility.

I was also informed that, due to the importance of the subject matter, delegates expressed the wish to have had more time to deliberate more thoroughly.  However, by reading the excellent documents before you that the preparatory Meeting has produced, I can only praise their expertise and dedication to deliver the best, and for bearing with us on the constraint we have had in facilitating the meeting.  

Honourable Ministers,

In your deliberations today, you will identify areas of priority action for Governments and all stakeholders to improve the engagement of the ACP Group in the management of critical aspects of Migration, in particular those on issues related to the nexus between Migration and Development.

The position you will recommend will form the basis of an ACP position on Migration to be presented to the United Nations High-level meeting on Migration, scheduled to take place in New York during September of this year. Prior to the afore-mentioned UN meeting, your Declaration and Plan of Action will be endorsed by the next Session of the ACP Council of Ministers, to be held in Port- Moresby from 28 May to 2 June 2006. Furthermore, the 5^th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, which is scheduled to take place in Khartoum, Sudan during the first half of December 2006, will have the opportunity to provide further guidance on migration issues.  

Our partnership with the European Union and our intra-ACP cooperation is centred on human dignity and mutual respect, and in this context, issues related to Asylum, Migration and Mobility are of critical importance. These issues are also cross-cutting to almost all the Millennium Development Goals, and I can only thank our partners in development here present today for their support to ensure that all these concerns are properly addressed.

Honourable Ministers, Honourable Guests, Distinguished Delegates,
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

The agenda of your meeting is comprehensive, and I do not wish to take more time from your deliberations. Allow me to urge you to define a common strategy that is people-focussed, based on the alleviation of poverty and the eventual promotion of sustainable development in ACP States and regions. Let us look at possible solutions in a new, innovative and, overall, positive way.

I wish you a fruitful and constructive meeting, and I thank you for your attention.