Cape Verde has until the month of November to present a framework document to the European Commission containing the essential elements, including the political framework, priority sectors and surveillance mechanisms, of the special partnership it hopes to establish with the European Union.

The definition of this deadline is one of the main results of a work meeting that a European Commission delegation, headed by its director for development, Stefano Manservisi, had with Cape Verdean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities Victor Borges.

Manservisi believes that the process is now in the phase in which concrete proposals are to be presented, indicating that both sides will now work together, with the involvement of those countries interested in supporting Cape Verde’s intentions.

The objective is to have a framework document for the special partnership that could come to be approved by European Union organs this year, according to Manservisi, who affirmed that the deadline was defined as a function of the European Commission’s meeting calendar.

Until then, according to Manservisi, Cape Verde, the European Commission and the countries supporting the process will work together to “identify the main exes and priorities” that should constitute the content of the special partnership.

“The Cape Verde project has been absorbed well, at least on the level of the European Commission, and what needs to be done now is to formulate ideas, systematize them to adapt them to the situation and transform them into concrete actions,” concluded Stefano Manservisi, who also has work meetings scheduled with various Cape Vedean government officials and with the ambassadors from European Union member states in Cape Verde.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities Victor Borges highlighted the importance of the first European Commission mission to Cape Verde, headed as it was by a high-level European official sent specifically to discuss the issue of the special partnership.

Borges also promised personally to do his utmost toward achieving the goal of the special partnership, indicating that the coming weeks will see the conclusion of the correspondence that will be presented to the Council of Europe and to the European Parliament. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also predicted that the month of November would see the “turning point, in political terms,” in the process of the construction of the special partnership.

Asemana