23rd Partnership Commission with Cabo Verde: a cross-government approach to development cooperation

To mark the occasion, a delegation comprising three Cape Verdean ministers - Cabo Verde's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Regional Integration, Rui Alberto Figueiredo Soares, the Minister of Agriculture and the Environment, Gilberto Silva, and the Minister of Industry, Trade and Energy, Alexandre Monteiro, travelled to Luxembourg. They were received by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Xavier Bettel, and by the Minister of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Serge Wilmes. As part of the visit, Minister Figueiredo Soares also had a meeting with the Prime Minister, Luc Frieden. For his part, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Energy, Alexandre Monteiro, had a meeting with the Minister of the Economy, SME, Energy and Tourism, Lex Delles.

The 23rd Partnership Commission, co-chaired by the two countries' cooperation ministers, provided an opportunity to review progress on the implementation of projects under the Development-Climate-Energy Indicative Cooperation Programme (DCE ICP), signed in 2020. The aim of the DCE CIP is to strengthen coherence and synergies between development actions and other policy areas. It is implemented jointly by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity and the Directorate-General for Energy of the Ministry of the Economy.

At the Partnership Committee meeting, it was emphasised that activities worth almost €25 million are planned for this year. They include the installation of a desalination plant powered entirely by solar energy, capable of producing drinking water to meet the needs of the island of Brava, the restructuring of the system for financing vocational training, which has already benefited 2,300 young people, and a project to improve hygiene conditions and access to water for almost one in two schoolchildren in the country.

The 23rd Partnership Commission ended with Xavier Bettel and his counterpart from Cabo Verde signing a memorandum of understanding formalising support to the tune of 547,710 euros for Cabo Verde's national statistics institute (INE). This memorandum of understanding aims to strengthen the human, material and technological capacities of the INE, to improve the coverage and quality of statistical production, and to enhance the communication, dissemination and use of official statistics.

In this context, Minister Bettel declared: "The Partnership Commission has enabled us to assess the progress made and to look at the major stages ahead under the current Development-Climate-Energy (DCE) CIP, which is due to close at the end of 2025. It was also an opportunity to discuss the future configuration of our cooperative relations in the light of Cabo Verde's interests and needs, and Luxembourg's expertise. I congratulate Cabo Verde on its resilience in the face of the successive crises of recent years, which have nevertheless left their mark. In this context, I would like to reaffirm the Luxembourg Cooperation's full support for Cabo Verde. I also welcome our shared commitment to an international order based on multilateralism, international law, peace and the rule of law.

Minister Wilmes emphasised: "It is with great pleasure that the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity contributes to the close cooperation between our two countries through its international climate finance programme. Climate change issues are at the heart of the current Development-Climate-Energy Indicative Cooperation Programme, which includes projects to strengthen climate governance and projects to adapt to climate change on five different islands.

During their meeting, Minister Monteiro and Minister Delles took stock of cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy. Within this framework, a feasibility study on the production of renewable hydrogen in Cabo Verde, financed by Luxembourg, was handed over by Minister Delles to Minister Monteiro, and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed between Société Électrique de l'Our SA (SEO) and Cabo Verde's National Department of Industry, Commerce and Energy, covering informal collaboration and ad hoc technical support for the implementation of an infrastructure project for a water pumping-turbine station to store renewable energy on the island of Santiago.

Finally, the Cape Verdean delegation was also welcomed for a meeting by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Claude Wiseler, and the members of the Commission for Foreign and European Affairs, Development Cooperation, Foreign Trade and the Greater Region.

Press release from the Ministry of State / Ministry of the Economy / Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity / Ministry of Culture / Ministry for Digitalisation / Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Defence, Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade