In cooperation with President Juncker and High Representative Mogherini, I have decided to appoint Ambassador Pierre Vimont as my personal envoy to lead preparations for the Valletta Conference between EU and African countries, called for by the special European Council of last April. His role will in particular be to ensure coherence in the EU's preparatory process in order to tackle the causes of illegal migration and combat the smuggling and trafficking of human beings.
Ambassador Vimont is a former secretary general of the European External Action Service and former Permanent Representative to the EU.