The Minister of State François-Xavier de Donnea, outgoing Facilitator of the Kingdom of Belgium of the CBFP and Honourable Dr Christian Ruck, Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany of the CBFP wish you happy end-of-year celebrations 2019 and express their best wishes for the new year, 2020!

Dear Partner,

From our interactions during this 2019 ending, the outgoing and incoming CBFP Facilitators have appreciated your rich and varied contributions and your proactive commitments that have enriched and enhanced the effectiveness of our common partnership, with the addition of several new members, bringing the number of CBFP members to 115.Together, we have moved forward! Together, we have raised the standard of the Congo Basin.

As you know, the CBFP Facilitation of the Kingdom of Belgium is fully committed to the consolidation of CBFP governance, in particular the meetings of the CBFP Governing Council, the CBFP colleges and the biannual holding of the CBFP Meeting of the Parties instead of every year during the Mandate of a Facilitation. From the Facilitation perspective, this wise decision led to a better use of the resources of the Second Meeting of the Parties to strengthen thematic work within the CBFP. To this end, we have together invested significant energy to address at a high political, technical and programmatic level, the transhumance and movement of armed groups between the Sahel and the northern part of the Congo Basin (N'Djamena, in January and Douala, in December 2019).In addition, we have engaged a high-level political dialogue between donor countries and COMIFAC countries in advocating for increased investment in local/indigenous populations in and around natural protected areas and forest concessions (Malabo, June 2019).In addition, emphasis has been placed on Dialogue with China to encourage Chinese stakeholders to join the CBFP, including meetings in Yaoundé (September 2019) and Shanghai (October 2019).These dynamics contribute to the consolidation of a result-based Partnership, with a view to better coordination and more effective harmonization of partners' actions in favour of the Congo Basin forest ecosystems.

Concerning the next CBFP Facilitation, all the partners welcome and are delighted that the Federal Republic of Germany has committed itself to assume the CBFP Facilitation for the 2020-2021 period. For its part, the Kingdom of Belgium will remain a very committed and active member of the CBFP. We look forward to working with the Facilitation of the Federal Republic of Germany and all CBFP partners to "protect" and further develop the achievements of the Kingdom of Belgium Facilitation.

This is an opportunity for the outgoing CBFP Facilitator to thank you once again for your various contributions to the success of the mandate of the Facilitation of the Kingdom of Belgium, which is coming to an end, and which I had the honour and responsibility to lead".

I wish you very happy end-of-year celebrations 2019 and all the best for the year 2020!

One year ends, another begins, many issues and challenges await us in 2020.More specifically, the CBFP will enter a new era in its history with the inauguration of the Facilitation of the Federal Republic of Germany. To this end, the outgoing and incoming CBFP Facilitations strongly hope to join together our efforts in synergy for greater efficiency in pooling the technical and financial contributions of partners and in mobilizing the international community in favour of the Congo Basin forest ecosystems and sub-regional institutions: ECCAS - COMIFAC and support to the initiatives, programmes, projects of our partners in the field whose courage, dedication in daily hard work in favor of biodiversity conservation, sustainable management and the well-being of populations we hail.

Thus, in the New Year 2020, the CBFP incoming Facilitation looks forward to continuing to work closely with you in support of biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of forest ecosystems and the well-being of the people of Central Africa.

This is an appropriate opportunity for us to wish you happiness, health, success and prosperity in 2020. In short, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

We look forward to working with you! We are partners!

The Minister of State François-Xavier de Donnea, outgoing Facilitator of the Kingdom of Belgium of the CBFP and Honourable Dr Christian Ruck, Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany of the CBFP wish you happy end-of-year celebrations 2019 and express their best wishes for the new year, 2020!