The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs attended the Foreign Affairs Council on 16 January. The Foreign Affairs Council was chaired by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini. The meeting was held in Brussels.
Foreign Affairs Council
A provisional report of the meeting and conclusions adopted can be found at: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/fac/2017/01/16/.
Agenda items included the middle east peace process, Syria and a forward look for 2017. Ms Mogherini briefed Foreign Ministers on the recent European Court of Justice ruling on Morocco. Ms Mogherini also informed Foreign Ministers of the outcome of the previous week’s talks in Geneva on the Cyprus settlement.
Syria
Foreign Ministers discussed developments in Syria including the ceasefire agreement announced by Russia on 29 December; and the talks convened by Russia and Turkey to be held in Astana. Ms Mogherini updated Foreign Ministers on: the EU’s regional outreach initiative; the EU’s Syria strategy; and a road map for EU policy on Syria. Ms Mogherini also informed Ministers that the EU would co-host a conference on Syria to follow up the London conference of February 2015. The Foreign Secretary welcomed this and, together with other Ministers, reconfirmed support for post-conflict reconstruction in Syria once a credible political transition was firmly under way.
MEPP
Foreign Ministers had an informal discussion about issues relating to the middle east peace process. The Foreign Secretary reiterated the UK’s commitment to a two-state solution.
Ministers agreed without discussion a number of measures:
The Council adopted conclusions on Lebanon.
The Council delisted four entities from the list of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures against Iran.
The Council approved the delisting of five vessels from the list of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, following the respective delisting by the United Nations Security Council.
The Council decided on the withdrawal of the European Commission from the EU-level framework in accordance with the recommendation of the UN Committee for the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities so as to ensure the independence of the monitoring framework.
The Council approved the conclusion of the protocol to the Euro-Mediterranean agreement establishing an association between the EU and Algeria. The protocol contains a framework agreement on the general principles for the participation of Algeria in EU programmes and agencies such as Europe’s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises COSME, Europe Creative or Horizon 2020.
The Council approved rules of procedure to be adopted by various trade sub-committees established under the EU-Ukraine association agreement.
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