UN, EU agree on crisis management roles

The United Nations and the European Union (EU) today signed off on a detailed plan on how to best coordinate their efforts in emergencies and crises.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the current EU president, signed a Joint Declaration on UN-EU Cooperation in Crisis Management, which defines their roles in military and civilian relief operations and disaster situations.

The Secretary-General "hopes that this step will lead to even closer cooperation between the two organizations in both military and civilian areas of crisis management," a spokesman for Mr. Annan said in a statement.

"The Secretary-General is particularly pleased that the declaration outlines specific area where practical cooperation can advance, such as training, planning, communications and 'lessons learnt'," the statement added.