Promoting Peace - Main contents

Meeting Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, José Ramos Horta

I’m lucky enough to work in a role where I regularly meet inspirational people. However, there can be few more inspirational than the man I met today - José Ramos Horta, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (jointly with the Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo) for his work towards a peaceful solution to the conflict in Timor- Leste (East Timor).

Dr. Ramos Horta worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the situation in Timor-Leste (East Timor), eventually becoming the country's President in 2007. In 2008 he was injured when shot in an assassination attempt. He later forgave his attackers, going on to issue a pardon.

Today, Dr. Ramos Horta continues to work towards peace - in fact, he is currently in Brussels as chair of a High level panel of independent experts on UN peace operations, which is carrying out a review of how the UN and other partners work to achieve peace and security, ahead of the general debate at the UN’s General Assembly in September.

Simply put, there can be no development without peace and security, and no peace and security without development, which is why this panel's work is so important.

I’m pleased to say that the EU and UN work together very closely in peace operations. We are also continuously striving to improve our cooperation with other international partners and regional organisations, like the African Union. Take the African Peace Facility, for example, to which the EU has provided €1.2 billion since 2004 to help to support African-led peace operations in Somalia, the Central African Republic and Mali, amongst other places.

During the meeting with Dr. Ramos Horta today, and his high level panel of experts in the field from all over the world, I welcomed the new review, which I believe will help to provide a valuable stocktake of the work done so far to make the world a more secure place, and what can be done to further improve things going forward.

The increased number of recent crises in the world demonstrate that peace operations are as crucial today as they ever have been, and I was pleased to confirm to Dr. Ramos Horta my commitment to further enhancing EU-UN coordination and collaboration on peace and security.

Dr. Ramos Horta is someone who reminds us of the importance of peace, and the lengths that people will go to ensure it. I hope that under his leadership we’ll be able to further improve international cooperation on peace and security and work together in partnership with the UN and other partners to make the world a safer, more stable and more prosperous place.