Louis Mapou : New OCTA Chair

On 8 July, Mr. Louis Mapou was elected President of the 17th Government of New Caledonia, succeeding Mr. Thierry Santa.

“It is an honour” and “a heavy responsibility”, said the new head of the executive, mentioning three urgent issues for the 17th government:

• the end of the health crisis and the continuation of the vaccination campaign in order to consider lifting the travel restrictions by the end of the year
• rescue measures for Ruamm
• New Caledonia’s budget

Pour plus d’informations : https://gouv.nc/actualites/08-07-2021/louis-mapou-elu-president-du-17e-gouvernement

As the presidency of OCTA is held by New Caledonia, Mr. Mapou became the OCTA Chair:

I have the honour of becoming President of the 17th collegiate government of New Caledonia as of 8 July 2021.

In this capacity, I am very pleased to also assume the presidency of the Association of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT), a presidency held by New Caledonia since December 2020 and until the next ministerial conference of our organisation.

This is an important responsibility that I will be keen to exercise for the benefit of all the countries and territories (OCTs).

Following on from the presidency held by. Mr Thierry Santa, I wish to maintain the momentum in the implementation of OCTA’s work programme for 2021.

I will be particularly attentive to the participatory process of elaborating OCTA’s new strategy for the period 2021-2027, a document that will be decisive in the upcoming discussions concerning the future support of the European Union for the activities of our organisation.

The priority themes defined within the framework of the New Caledonian presidency of OCTA, namely the “blue” economic recovery, the implementation of the Green Deal in the OCTs and regional integration, respond to strong issues in our territories, as shown by the recent exchanges organised with the participation of the European Commissioner Mrs Urpilainen, within the framework of the European Parliament’s “Friends of the OCTs” group.

I am also delighted with the initiatives that will be developed in the coming months to involve our young people more in the work with the European Union and OCTA.

The new programming process linked to the Overseas Association Decision, including Greenland, will be followed closely, in the hope of a rapid adoption, at the end of the year, of the new territorial and regional programmes for the period 2021-2027.

I propose to organise the next EU-OCT Forum in the 1st half of 2022, on New Caledonian soil, if the health conditions are met. After more than eighteen months of virtual exchanges, I hope to be able to host the annual face-to-face meeting of all the delegations from the OCTs, the European Union Member States to which they are linked and the European institutions.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the main stakeholders of the EU-OCT partnership, and in particular the European Commission, for the efforts made in recent months, in a difficult context marked by the impacts of the Covid 19 epidemic crisis, to continue to improve the results of the actions carried out in the territories and in our regions, to improve the well-being of our citizens.