Meer aandacht voor partnerschappen en Oost-Afrika in EU-ACP samenwerking (en)

The twelfth session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, which brings together MEPs and parliamentarians from 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, started its work on Monday 20 November in Barbados. Economic Partnership Agreements and the situation in East Africa were among the issues raised in the opening speeches.

Dame Billie A Miller, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, welcomed delegates to the 12th Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), expressing her appreciation to the European Union for its recognition of the need for custom-designed solutions in its articulation of various strategies for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). These strategies, she said, although grounded in the common framework of the Cotonou Agreement, sought to respond to the challenges which are specific to each of the three geographic regions.

Glenys Kinnock (PES, UK), ACP-EU Co-President, spoke of the need to press the German government during its Presidency of the EU Council next year to host a donor meeting and secure pledges to obtain the additional € 8 billion a year needed to finance education for all. On Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), Mrs Kinnock said: "The expiry of the WTO waiver should not be used to argue that there is a need to sign up to an agreement that is perceived as detrimental to ACP development interests." On Sudan, she said: "The deal brokered by Kofi Annan in Addis Ababa last week on a `hybrid' UN AU force already looks doubtful as we hear the Sudanese Foreign Minister announce that `there should be no talk about mixed force' and that there would be no UN troops in Darfur."

Co-President René Radembino-Coniquet (Gabon) said: "This assembly will be the opportunity to focus on the essential questions of negotiation such as the EPAs where progress is slow and for which further financial resources should be provided to ACP countries." He also raised "political instability and conflicts, which are, according to the World Food Organisation (FAO) of the UN the primary cause of hunger," and from which East Africa, in particular suffers.

Owen S. Arthur, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Barbados, who officially opened the Assembly, said, "Half the world is represented here and the other half is listening." He reminded delegates that the Parliament of Barbados was the second oldest Parliament in the Commonwealth. He described the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly as the greatest example of North-South cooperation known to humanity and said it had successfully managed to incorporate new EU and ACP members. On the EPAs, Prime Minister Arthur underlined the reciprocal nature of any agreement, the respect for human rights as an essential element of any future agreement and the importance of regional cooperation.  

The JPA will close with a press conference of the two Co-Presidents, Glenys Kinnock and René Radembino-Coniquet,  which will take place on Thursday 23 November at 1pm local time.

20/11/2006

Co-president : Glenys Kinnock (PES, UK)

Co-president : René Radembino-Coniquet (Gabon)

12th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly