The Council of Ministers met on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at the Palace of the Presidency of the Republic, under the chairmanship of His Excellency, Mr. Faure Essozimna GNASSINGBE, President of the Republic.
The Council has:
- adopted two (2) bills and three (3) decrees;
- listened to three (3) communications;
- and made appointments.
Under Bills
The first bill passed by the Council authorizes the ratification of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, adopted on November 17, 1970 in Paris.
Entered into force in 1972, this convention aims to combat the illicit trade in cultural property. It organizes international cooperation to combat the looting of cultural property in general and works of art in particular.
Its ratification will consolidate the legal framework for the protection of the national heritage. It will also make it possible to benefit from UNESCO's technical assistance and the collaboration of the Member States in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
The second bill adopted by the Council authorizes accession to the Unidroit Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural property, adopted on 24 June 1995 in Rome.
International Instrument for the Harmonization of National Regimes for the Return or Return of Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, the purpose of this Convention is to facilitate the return of cultural property to its country of origin.
The Unidroit Convention of 1995 supplements that of 1970 and covers all other categories of stolen or illegally exported cultural property that are inventoried or listed on a national inventory list. The Unidroit Convention covers all other categories of cultural property. Thus, cultural objects from illegal excavations are considered stolen.
The accession of Togo to this Convention will make it possible to benefit from the cooperation of the States Parties in restoring or returning stolen or illegally exported cultural property.
By ratifying the two conventions, our country can consider claiming cultural property and artifacts found in museums in foreign countries and effectively combating illicit trafficking of art objects through our country.
Under the decrees
The first decree adopted by the council, establishes the houses of justice in Togo.
In his desire to make justice more accessible to the people, the Head of State, in his address to the nation on January 3, 2018, had announced the creation of the houses of justice in Togo.
To translate into reality the decision of the Head of State, the Ministry of Justice conducted reflections that led to the proposal for a structure with a derived judicial vocation, characterized by the free and easy access to both the procedural rather than institutional plan.
Thus, after the sensitization rounds of the Minister of Justice, the identification of pilot sites in certain regions of Togo, was made.
Houses of justice, both in rural and urban areas, contribute to conflict resolution, prevention and the treatment of minor delinquency.
As such, their main tasks are:
- to ensure the reception of local populations and to provide them with all information on their rights and duties, in general;
- organize or facilitate a judicial treatment of proximity, fast, diversified and adapted to the litigation of the daily life;
- perform mediation and conciliation activities, especially those initiated by the parties, except criminal matters, except in the case of minor offenses, with the authorization of the public prosecutor;
- explain to the populations their rights, the different stages of judicial proceedings and the decisions that may be taken in the files.
It should be noted that the houses of justice are not jurisdictional structures.
The third decree fixes the institutional framework of the agropoles.
The implementation of the strategy for reviving agricultural production (SRPA 2008-2011) and the national agricultural investment and food security program (PNIASA 2011-2016) has enabled Togo to record, for more than one decade, significant progress in the agricultural sector including increased agricultural production with regular surpluses, stable prices of agricultural products, reduction of malnutrition and poverty in rural areas.
With these achievements, the Head of State has launched a new vision based on the structural transformation of the national economy from agriculture.
This policy should lead to a substantial and sustainable improvement in the income of rural populations and their standard of living, as well as the creation of jobs especially for young people and women, while strongly impacting food and nutritional security and especially for the most vulnerable populations. vulnerable.
To achieve these objectives, a strategic plan has been developed to mobilize the private sector for the promotion of agricultural, agribusiness and family farms enterprises: agropoles and agro-parks.
In order to allow efficient management of the agropoles and agro-parks, this decree adopted by the council, establishes the general framework of the creation, the planning and the management of the agropoles as well as the modes of administration of the companies wishing to to settle there. It creates and organizes the structure of promotion and development of the agropoles, in the form of a public establishment, denominated "Agency of promotion and development of the agropoles in Togo", abbreviated APRODAT.
APRODAT is a tool for promoting and promoting investment, export processing, competitiveness, employment, growth, and land use planning.
As communications
The first communication presented by the Minister of Higher Education and Research, relates to the TOGORER education and research network and the WACREN 2018 conference.
The purpose of this communication is to present actions in the digital domain called the "West and Central Africa Regional Education and Research Network" (WACREN) and the "National Education and Research Network" (TOGORER). She also reports on the upcoming WACREN annual conference in Lomé.
Togo is a member of the regional education and research network of West and Central Africa (WACREN).
The education and research networks (TOGORER) are high-speed telecommunication networks dedicated to education and research, with end-users of university communities and institutions of higher education and research.
National education and research networks interconnect the networks of public and private higher education and research institutions in each country.
The interconnection of these networks forms the global education and research network known as the "academic Internet" as opposed to the commercial Internet.
The Togolese government's efforts in the field of higher education and research led to Togo's choice to host WACREN's 4th annual conference. More than 200 participants from Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia are expected on March 15, 2018 in Lomé.
The second communication presented by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, relates to the establishment of the National Agency for Tourism Development in Togo.
The government has always insisted in its country's development policy documents on the major importance of the industry and tourism sector as a support and vector for development.
Thus, the Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Employment Promotion (SCAPE), developed in 2013, included the development of industry and tourism in highly strategic sectors through its axis entitled "development of sectors with high growth potential "with the aim of strengthening the pace of economic growth, diversifying the levers and ensuring a more equitable distribution of its fruits by creating many jobs.
It is in this context that is the project of creation of the National Agency for Tourism Development (ANDT).
The objective is to contribute to the development of the country through tourism.
The National Agency for Tourism Development is an innovation in the institutional framework of the Ministry. Its main task will be to pilot and execute the department's projects, to position the Togolese tourist destination at the local, regional and international levels, to use the comparative advantages of the country to hoist the Togo destination among the leaders in Africa. the West and provide tangible results on Togo's tourism development indicators. In doing so, the tourism sector should boost job creation, the national economy and the incomes of the population.
The third communication presented by the Minister of Mines and Energy is to report to the Council on the outcome of the meeting of the West Africa Gas Pipeline Committee held in Lomé on December 1, 2017. .
It is recalled that the project of natural gas in the pipeline has experienced many difficulties in its implementation. Thus, several meetings of the Committee of Ministers were successively held in Abuja on July 12, 2016, in Accra on October 6, 2016 and in Cotonou on May 12, 2017 to diagnose problems and propose solutions.
At the meeting held in Lomé on 1 December 2017, the Committee of Ministers noted a satisfactory level of implementation of the Cotonou recommendations, particularly the increase in natural gas volumes, the payment of invoices, the progress preparations for the interconnection project.
In the titles of the appointments
The Council of Ministers has appointed the Director General of Energy under the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Under the Ministry of Justice, and relations with the institutions of the Republic of the appointments of six (6) notaries near the courts of Togo.
And, in the Ministry of Territorial Administration, Decentralization and Local Government, the recognition of the appointment of thirteen (13) chiefs of cantons, one elective and twelve (12) customarily.
Done at Lomé on 27 February 2018
The Council of Ministers.
Comments
Post a Comment