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European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR)
News article24 April 2018Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations

Second Brussels Conference “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” kicks off today

Today 24 and tomorrow 25 April the EU is hosting the second Brussels Conference "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" (#SyriaConf2018), co-chaired together with the United Nations.

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Today 24 and tomorrow 25 April the EU is hosting the second Brussels Conference "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" (#SyriaConf2018), co-chaired together with the United Nations. Ahead of the main ministerial plenary sessions tomorrow, High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini will meet today with UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura. They will have an exchange with representatives from the Syrian civil society and will hold a joint press point at 13:00 (live on EbS). This morning, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides are participating, together with UN representatives and key donors to the high-level “Day of Dialogue” with over 200 NGOs from Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey. Various aspects of the international support in response to the Syrian conflict in both Syria and the region will be discussed. The introductory remarks by Commissioners Hahn and Stylianides are available online. Commissioner Stylianides is also participating in a specific event dedicated to education co-organised with the Malala Fund and Sarah Brown, President of "Their world". More information on today's events are available here (focus on resilience and regional/development) and here (focus on humanitarian support). Conclusions and recommendations will then be reported to tomorrow's Ministerial Conference. Tomorrow, the ministerial plenary sessions will bring together representatives from over 85 delegations, from the EU and the region, regional and international organisation, NGOs and civil society. Delegations will start arriving from 7:30. The morning plenary session meeting with a political focus will be co-chaired by HR/VP Mogherini and followed by a joint EU-UN press conference at around 12:45. The plenary sessions dedicated to the regional and humanitarian aspects of the Syrian conflict will be respectively chaired by Commissioners Hahn and Stylianides, as well will be parallel sessions tackling economic and humanitarian issues. The pledge announcement will conclude the Conference at around 18:00. The opening of the plenary and parallel sessions as well as the pledge will be live streamed. Videos and photos will be available on EbS. For more information on the Conference, visit the dedicated website - which contains the media advisory, the indicative programme and background information. For further insight into the EU response to the Syrian crisis, read also our factsheet.

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