From 28 to 30 September, EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs will pay his first visit to Rwanda. He will travel together with Belgian Minister for Development Cooperation Charles Michel, on behalf of the EU Belgian Presidency.

- the designation of one or more administrative correspondents in each of the Member States responsible for dealing with operators and supervisory authorities on questions of combating counterfeiting and piracy in the single market, as already exist for matters concerning checks at the external border of the EU, and the establishment of an EU-level contact committee, made up of the national correspondents and chaired by the Commission, with the task of developing cooperation, promoting the exc ...[+++]hange of information and examining all the various aspects of combating counterfeiting and piracy in the single market, except for penal matters [13].

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT At the initiative of the Belgian and Italian delegations, the Council asked the Commission to submit, before its next meeting, a discussion paper on the role that development cooperation policy could play in reducing the pressure of migration.

better implementation and enforcement of environmental legislation; adopting integrated strategies; simplifying the legislation and administrative procedures, using framework directives, monitoring application, developing cooperation between competent authorities, transparency of measures, dealing with infringements which come to light.

Its duties are to deal with all administrative questions and questions of interpretation arising from this Regulation and to foster and develop cooperation between Member States in social security matters by modernising procedures for information exchange.

The Council: 1. reaffirms the importance of reinforcing coordination in development cooperation between the Community and the Member States as stated in Article 130x of the Treaty on European Union and in accordance with the principle of complementarity of policies set out in Article 130u; 2. notes with interest the initial results of reinforced coordination in the six pilot countries, in particular the progress made in several countries in reciprocal exchange of information between the representatives of the Member States and the Community and the consequent greater transparency of sectoral and regional activities of the Commission and ...[+++] Member States; 3. notes, however, the disparity between one country and another in the functioning of coordination and observes that the process is hindered by a number of problems relating, inter alia, to lack of staff, links with other coordination bodies and the involvement of beneficiary countries; 4. also emphasizes, in view of the differing economic and social situations in the various countries, the advantages of coherent analysis and exchange of information between the Member States and the Commission; 5. stresses the importance of Community coordination and reiterates the main objectives, which are: to strengthen the capacity of the recipient country to assume responsibility for and ownership of its own development strategies and programmes; to reduce the administrative burden on beneficiary countries with the aim of encouraging strengthened capacity; to increase the effectiveness of development cooperation by the Community and its Member States and providers of funds as a whole; to ensure consistency of the cooperation activities of the Community and its Member States with the common political guidelines adopted by the Council and to ensure complementarity of the various measures within the framework of a single strategy developed by the beneficiary country itself; to optimize the European Union's presence in develo ...