meaning of the phrase "to this effect"

[KLPNO]

Hello everyone
I'd like to ask about the meaning of the phrase "to this effect" in the following passage:

Ms Androulla Kaminara, confirmed the EC’s commitment to gender equality, noting that it had identified the four key areas for providing support to gender equality and development cooperation as
(1) financial support, (2) capacity building, (3) sharing of information and best practices, and (4) improvement of internal processes. To this effect the EC sees gender equality as an objective in its own right and gender impact assessments will be carried out systematically in all EC development cooperation.

EC stands for European Comission.
In the Oxford Advanced Learner's dictionary I found the following:
to this / that effect used to show that you are giving the general meaning of what sb has said or written rather than the exact words: He left a note to the effect that he would not be coming back. She told me to get out—or words to that effect.

I'm not sure that in the passage the phrase "to this effect" was used with this meaning.

[Mister Micawber]

.
To me, it seems to mean 'to effect this', i.e. 'to accomplish this'.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[KLPNO]