The EU summit with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu – the second such meeting following the EU-Africa summit in Malta in the first half of November – aims to stem the flow of refugees to Europe.
According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, Turkish contribution is essential to resolving the migration crisis in the EU. The majority of refugees come to Europe via this country, which shares a border with Syria. This year alone, 575 thousand refugees arrived in the EU via Turkey.
During the meeting, EU and Turkey's leaders will discuss a joint action plan under which Turkey takes on the commitment to strengthen border controls, handle the registration of refugees and ensure the return of economic migrants whose lives are not in danger from the EU. The EU is planning to allocate 3 billion euros to assist Turkey which has already granted asylum to 2.2 million Syrian refugees.
After the EU-Turkey summit, the President will leave for Paris to attend the UN Climate Change Conference on November 30. The aim of the conference is to reach a new global agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide. Previous Kyoto commitments run out in 2020, and countries across the world must agree on further goals.
The top-level conference will gather 147 delegations and 40 thousand participants. Dalia Grybauskaitė will deliver a speech at the session of heads of state which will be attended by U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.
