High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi met on 11 May 2021.

They discussed in detail the situation in Ethiopia, Colombia, Lebanon and the Western Balkans. They agreed on the importance of bridging the divide between humanitarian and development responses to forced displacement to ensure long-term and sustainable solutions.

High Representative/Vice-President Borrell emphasised the EU’s commitment to addressing forced displacement and protecting those in need, as strongly reflected in the proposed EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum. He underlined the need to build on the momentum that followed the December 2019 Global Refugee Forum to promote global solidarity and responsibility sharing in protecting refugees.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Grandi welcomed the direction of the proposed EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and recalled, in the spirit of the Global Refugee Forum, the importance of shared responsibility for refugees, asylum seekers and other people of concern to UNHCR. 90 per cent of forcibly displaced people are in developing countries and the EU has a key role to support large refugee hosting countries.

High Representative/Vice President Borrell and High Commissioner Grandi reiterated the importance of the EU-UNHCR partnership in the development and implementation of policies to protect those in need.