African Regional Centre for Industries, Consultancy and Management Services

African Regional Centre for Consultancy Services

consult and assist food industry | provide consultancy services to food industry | advise food industry | advise food service managers

Management and Consultative Committee on Industrial Technologies (CGC)

Reducing the number of crossings and saving lives by enhancing ongoing support, including through EUNAVFOR Operation Sophia, to the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy, including through expanding the training activities through an immediate €1 million addition to the Seahorse programme and a grant of €2.2 million under the Regional Development and Protection Programme in North Africa and establishing a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre; Stepping up the fight against smugglers and traffickers by ensuring an operational 'Seahorse Mediterr ...[+++]anean' Network by Spring 2017 to strengthen the border authorities of North African countries and allow better operational cooperation amongst them; Protecting migrants, increasing resettlement and promoting assisted voluntary returns, by supporting UNHCR work with the Libyan authorities to address the situation of persons in need of international protection, supporting IOM in improving the situation of migrants in Libya and expanding its assisted voluntary returns programme from Libya to countries of origin; Managing migrant flows through the southern Libyan border by deploying the full range of EU missions and projects to support the Libyan authorities in border management and migrant protection, promoting dialogue between Libya and its neighbours and maintaining the momentum of results with Niger under the Partnership Framework; Increasing dialogue and operational cooperation with partners in North Africa on migration management; Stepping up funding from the EU Trust Fund for Africa by mobilising €200 million for projects in 2017 to support actions such as training and equipping the Libyan Coast Guard, improving the conditions for migrants and stepping up assisted voluntary returns.

whereas the primary mechanism for European cooperation with the AU is the African Peace Facility, originally established in 2004 and providing some EUR 1,9 billion through the Member State-funded EDF; whereas when the APF was established in 2003 its financing via EDF funds was meant to be provisional, but 12 years later the EDF remains the main source of funding for the APF; whereas in 2007 the scope of the Facility was broadened to encompass a wider range of conflict-prevention and post-conflict stabilisation activities; whereas the 2014-2016 action programme takes account of external evaluation and ...[+++]consultations with Member States and introduces new elements to improve its effectiveness; whereas Article 43 TEU refers to the so-called ‘Petersberg Plus’ tasks, which cover military advice and assistance tasks, conflict prevention and peace-keeping tasks, and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peace-making and post-conflict stabilisation; whereas in 2014 more than 90 % of the budget was earmarked for PSOs, of which 65 % was for AMISOM staff; whereas strengthening the institutional capacity of the African Union and the African regional economic communities is vital to the success of PSOs and the post-conflict reconciliation and rehabilitation processes.

56. Notes that the increasing Chinese presence in Africa has contributed to economic development, with a particular focus on infrastructure projects; appreciates the Chinese leadership’s acknowledgement of the serious criticism of its imbalanced, raw-material-centred African policy during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held in Beijing on 20 July 2012, as demonstrated by its current open promotion of a diversification of its activities on the African continent; welcomes the pledge by State and Party leader Hu Jintao at this FOCAC meeting of a record credit of USD 20 billion to African ...[+++]countries over the next three years for developing their infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and SMEs; welcomes the support expressed by China for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and encourages the Chinese authorities to follow the global trend towards more transparency and to increase their concrete commitments in this area; calls on the EU to remain vigilant about the political, economic, social and environmental impact of China’s growing investments in Africa;

14. Calls on the Member States, in view of the rising costs of health care, to take reinforced measures - such as the use of new technologies, targeted information campaigns, efficient health service management, expansion of reference centres or cross-border cooperation - aimed at delivering high-quality health care for all now and in future and at the same time securing cost savings in the medium term; and urges the Member States and the Commission to issue guidelines after consulting industry and patie ...[+++]nt groups to provide equal access for all to medicines and medical products and furthermore to take into consideration that health care costs could be reduced not only by government action, but also by greater solidarity between generations and in families and mutual assistance measures at local level;