Please click HERE to download the Report of the seminar organised by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union in New York on 21 May, 2009.

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The topic of this event fits well into the priority areas in external relations of the Czech Presidency in the area of conflict management and crisis prevention.

Ms. Helena Bambasová, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, delivered an opening statement of the seminar. She stated, inter alia, that the Czech Presidency intended to promote a better understanding of opportunities for EU-UN cooperation and examine how synergies between the EU and the UN in SSR can best be supported. 

State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Ms. Diana Štrofová also took the floor in the seminar. Her presence underlined the close cooperation between the Czech Republic and Slovakia during the Czech Presidency and at the same time acknowledged Slovakia’s leading role in SSR in the UN context ever since its membership in the UN Security Council in 2006 and 2007.

Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Mr. Dmitry Titov, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Mr. Stan Nkwain, and Head of the EU Security Sector Reform Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (EUSEC RD Congo), French General Jean-Paul Michel, also contributed with their speeches to the seminar. Particular emphasis has been put on the cases of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea-Bissau, where both the EU and the UN have parallel operations deployed. During the seminar many speakers referred to the prompt need for further implementation of the principles of the EU-UN co-operation and to the practical materialisation of the strategic partnership between these two organizations.

The outcomes of the seminar will be summarised in a report, which will be presented and distributed both in New York and in Brussels in June. The report and further recommendations will contribute to the ongoing efforts for better harmonisation and operationalisation of EU and UN approaches to SSR.

 

_{^{Ms. Helena Bambasová, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic}}

_{^{Ms. Diana Štrofová, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic}}

^{_{Mr. Dmitry Titov, Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations}}

_{^{(left) French General Jean-Paul Michel, Head of the EU Security Sector Reform Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}

_{^{(middle) Mr. Stan Nkwain, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Programme}}