Decentralized cooperation - Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne’s participation in the National Commission on Decentralized Cooperation (25 March 2021)

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Minister of State for Tourism, French Nationals Abroad and Francophonie, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, chaired the plenary session of the National Commission on Decentralized Cooperation (CNCD) today via video conference. The CNCD is a forum for dialogue tasked with promoting coordination on external action between the government and local and regional authorities.

The minister of state commended the determination of the local and regional authorities, which have continued and adapted their international partnerships and cooperation projects in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

The participants welcomed the fact that the policy and programming bill on inclusive development and the fight against global inequality, recently passed unanimously by the National Assembly, promotes the strengthening of external action by local and regional authorities: doubling in 2022 of funding allocated to support external action by local and regional authorities; modification of the international volunteer system, making it possible to receive foreign volunteers within the framework of decentralized cooperation projects; participation of decentralized cooperation actors in local development councils chaired by ambassadors. Throughout the process of preparing the bill, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the minister of state ensured that the CNCD was consulted on the provisions concerning local and regional authorities.

This meeting also provided an opportunity to take stock of the implementation of the Sahel roadmap adopted by the CNCD in December 2018 and to discuss upcoming events, notably the next Generation Equality Forum due to take place in Paris.