Check against delivery!   

Good morning,  

Today we are going to have the [Foreign] Affairs Council Development with very important issues. 

First, we will have an exchange with Rebeca Grynspan, the Secretary General of the United Nations [Conference on] Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  

This is an important meeting with Rebeca [Grynspan] because we continue facing this triple crisis of food, energy and finance and many of our partners around the world are suffering from this triple crisis – especially due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.  

During the meeting, the Ministers will for sure underline again our commitment to the United Nations and the international community, to give a new boost to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Another very important discussion will be about the need to sustain the global response to the food crisis, and you know what is important on that is the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Thanks to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, we have been able to export almost 30 million tonnes of grain, and other products. I want to thank the United Nations, and in particular Rebeca Grynspan, for its work, and we will exchange with her. And after discussing with Rebeca [Grynspan], we will discuss how to phase the reconstruction of Ukraine, which are the needs, in view of the Ukraine Recovery Conference that will be taking place in London next June. 

Then, we will discuss about the [multilateral] development banks’ reform. We had [discussed] about that at the last informal meeting [of Foreign Ministers] in Stockholm. We have to continue advancing on the reforming of the multilateral development banks system. Well, we call it a system, maybe it is not a system, but it is a set of banks. Among them, the World Bank, but also our European [Investment] Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). We are - Member States and the European Union – leading global development partners, and we have a strong interest that multilateral development banks will be fit-for-purpose, starting with our own banks. 

We just had a breakfast with the European Investment Bank President, Mr Werner Hoyer, and we discussed mainly this issue of the reform of the multilateral development banks. 

Going to concrete geopolitical issues, Sudan continues being a source of concern. Yes, we evacuated our nationals, but tens of thousands of Sudanese people are leaving Khartoum - going to Egypt, to South Sudan. It means that a sustainable ceasefire is absolutely needed in order to offer safety to civilians and allow humanitarian support to be deployed.  

We are going to support Egypt on receiving this big flow of migrants. I had a phone call with the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister [Sameh Hassan Shoukry] yesterday, and today we will discuss how we can scale up, and address the consequences of this conflict. 

We will have to pay attention to Afghanistan. There has been a Conference [hosted by] the United Nations about how to deal with Afghanistan, and you know that the Taliban continue undermining women and girls' rights. The latest news is the ban of Afghan women from working at the United Nations agencies. First, they banned them from working for the Non-Governmental Organisations. Now, they ban women from working with the United Nations agencies. 

This is very grave because the United Nations is the most important partner in delivering basic needs assistance and humanitarian support to the Aghan people. So, if the United Nations’ agencies have to stop operating because the women cannot work for them, who will help the Afghan people?  

This is a decision against the Afghan people directly, and the Taliban have to understand this.  

We will study the result of the United Nations’ Conference on Afghanistan. I have [received] a letter from the [acting] Afghan Foreign Affairs Minister talking about that. I will share that with the [EU] Ministers and see what we can do in order to continue supporting the Afghan people in spite [of] all the difficulties and all the decisions that the Taliban are taking, which are directed against their own people.  

 Q&A 

Q. About yesterday’s drone attack over the Kremlin – the so-called ‘attack’ -, Russia and Russian officials have threatened to target Mr [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy [President of Ukraine] personally. What can you say about this kind of new escalation and developments? 

Look, yes, I know that. I have heard the news, I have seen the pictures and I listened to President Zelenskyy. And President Zelenskyy has stated very clearly that the Ukrainians are not involved in this attack, that they are defending their country, but they are fighting on their soil – that they are not attacking Russian soil. This is what [President] Zelenskyy has said, and this is what I have to say. 

Q. About the global consequences of the war, with the last escalation, do you take into consideration making some kind of emergency plans in case this war escalates more? 

We call [on] Russia not to use this alleged attack as an excuse to continue the escalation of the war. This is what worries us. What worries us is [that] this can be used in order to justify more conscription of people, [of] soldiers, more attacks to Ukraine. The most important thing that we have to continue doing is to support Ukraine militarily, politically and economically, and the best solution for the war – the only solution for the war - is Russia stopping the attacks and withdrawing their troops from Ukraine. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-240798