We, the Ministers and Delegates from the g7+ countries, met during the 5thg7+ Ministerial Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal on 26-27 June 2019.

We express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Government and People of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste for its continuous support to the g7+. We are also grateful for the support of our Development Partners,and in particular for the financial support to the g7+ Secretariat from Sweden and the pledge from Finland.

We are encouraged that the g7+ has become an increasingly influential constituency on the global stage and we reaffirm our resolve to continue playing an active role at the global level.

While recognizing that conflicts are still ongoing in some of our member countries, we are encouraged by the Peace processes that are underway in member countries such as Afghanistan, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Yemen. We reaffirm that these processes should be country-owned, country-led and inclusive, preserving the achievements of the past, so that they result in lasting Peace and stability. We reiterate our collective call for the international community, particularly the United Nations, to commit to supporting conflict-affected countries to achieve Peace through genuine dialogue and reconciliation, reflecting the wishes of the citizens.

We acknowledge the generous efforts by the international community and by the host countries that help and host refugees and displaced people from war-ravaged, poverty-strickenand climate change-affected countries. However, we believe that it is not sufficient to react to the consequences of conflict and crisis by providing humanitarian assistance. There is a need to foster sustainable Peace and lasting stability in conflict-affected countries. Therefore, we call upon the international community, the United Nations, the host countries and regional powers to genuinely help to address conflicts and their root causes. The g7+, drawing on its collective wisdom and experience, reiterates its resolve to spare no efforts to supporting countries in this endeavor.

Considering that access to fair justice is an enabler of lasting peace and an important pillar of Statebuilding, we acknowledge and support the Declaration and Joint action planwhich came out of the Ministerial-Level g7+ meeting on Access to justice for all in conflict-affectedcountries that took place on 19-20 June 2019 in the Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands.

We remain firm believers in the fact that resilient economic foundations are indispensable for sustaining Peace and development. Our youthful populations need to be provided with job opportunities so that they can be the source of prosperity rather than drivers of instability. We therefore call upon our Development Partners, as well as on all private actors committed to Peace, to support us in realizing our potential, becoming self-reliant and creating jobs.

Considering further that our countries are endowed with natural wealth and other resources which canbe the source of economic growth and prosperity if managed effectively, we comitto establish a g7+ Ministerial-level platform on natural resource management which will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience in this domain. 

We reaffirm our commitment to the Principles of the New Deal, the Agenda 2030 and the Sustaining Peace Agenda, and we pledge to enhance their effectiveness at the country level.

As a constituency of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS), we welcomethe IDPS Peace Vision 2019-2021, and we commit to working with our partners to realize the objectives therein.

We unanimously agree for Sierra Leone to continue as the chairmanship of g7+ until the next Ministerial meeting, and appoint Afghanistan to serve as Deputy Chair until such time.

We resolve to appoint Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace Laureate and former President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, as Special Envoy of the g7+.

We express our appreciation to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste for continuing to host the g7+ Headquarters in Dili, and to the Government of the Republic of Portugal and the Lisbon City Council for hosting the g7+’s recently-inaugurated European Hub, which will play a critical role in supporting the members states.

We endorse the decision to launch the process of seeking observer status for the g7+ at the United Nations. We entrust the g7+ Secretariat to work with the Permanent Mission of the chairing country in New York to initiate the process of submitting the application, and we call upon the support of all members of the UN throughout this process.

We commit to continuing the process of ratification of the g7+ Charter in our countriesand, with a view to consolidating the membership and sustaining the activities of the g7+, we reaffirm our commitment to meeting the voluntary contribution requirement provided for in the Charter.

We endorse the proposed strategic priorities for the year 2019-21, including the Fragile-to-Fragile Cooperation Action Plan, and we request the Secretariat to prepare a Financing Plan to that effect, while calling upon our Partners to support these priorities. We also welcome the findings of the independent review of the g7+ presented during this meeting.

As we continue on our pathway towards resilience, we look forward to celebrating the tenth anniversary
of the g7+ in 2020.