Published on Monday12thDecember2016
Minister Flanagan signs EU Trust Fund to support peace in Colombia
Mr. Eamon Gilmore, EU Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan
Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Charlie Flanagan was today a signatory at the inauguration in Brussels of the EU Trust Fund for Colombia.
At a ceremony in Brussels attended by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Minister Flanagan pledged €3 million to the Fund, which will underpin an agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) guerrilla organisation, ending a 52-year conflict in the South American country.
Minister Flanagan said:
Ireland strongly supports the Colombian peace process. The fifty year conflict in Colombia resulted in over 200,000 deaths and devastated the lives of many more. Our own experience of conflict gives us a special interest in building peace as well as a keen awareness of the importance of international support on the long and complicated road to peace and reconciliation.
The Minister congratulated Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on having been awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for pursuing the negotiations with the FARC. He also paid tribute to the role of the former Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore, who is the EU’s Special Envoy to the peace process and who was present in Brussels today.
Ireland is one of the founder members of the Fund and will contribute €3 million over five years.