Joint Communiqué by Fourth Trilateral Meeting of African Union, European Union and United Nations

Following is the joint communiqué of the Fourth Trilateral Meeting of the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations, issued today in New York:

1. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat; the President of the European Council, Charles Michel; the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell; and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres met on 17 September 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, along with senior officials from the three organizations.
2. The three organizations expressed full solidarity with the people and authorities of Libya and Morocco, recently struck by natural disasters.  They reaffirmed their commitment to promote effective multilateralism and welcomed the extension of G20 membership to the African Union.  They discussed the situation in the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes regions and called for a more robust action to solve ongoing crises.  They expressed continuing strong support for predictable financing of African Union-led peace support operations mandated by the Security Council, through United Nations-assessed contributions, and looked forward to the Security Council reaching an agreement on this long-standing matter.  They also discussed actions needed to accelerate just transition and climate justice and, in this context, looked forward to an ambitious outcome of the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).  They further expressed their solidarity with migrants and refugees that face haunting conditions on their road to Europe and exchanged views on ways to accelerate action to address irregular migration and its root causes in a joined-up manner.  They welcomed the continued efforts of the European Union-African Union-United Nations Tripartite Task Force on the Situation of Migrants and Refugees in Libya and called for enhanced regional cooperation and solutions, which must place human rights and the dignity of migrants and refugees front and centre.
3. The three organizations recognized the importance of collaborative partnerships for mutual benefit, whereby Africa and Europe work together in support of peace and sustainable development, reform of the international financial architecture, Africa’s fair representation in global institutions, the diversification of supply chains towards Africa and the promotion of investments.
4. The three organizations agreed to reconvene in 2024.