PORT-AU-PRINCE, 11 January 2011/ Defend.ht: After stops in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gabon, Tanzania), Europe (Denmark), in the Indian Ocean (Réunion) and the Pacific (Vanuatu), Haiti was chosen to host the next Music Festivals Network Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP).

Brussels, 11 January 2012/African Press Organization: The European Commission decided that starting from 2012, additional support to the tune of 110 MGHS (52 M€) will be given to Ghana to reduce maternal mortality and achieve the MDG 5 targets. This high quality project, has been selected because it aims to deliver concrete results by reducing maternal mortality and improving health care services.

Brussels, 18 December 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: ACP Secretary General Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas paid a courtesy call to the President of the Republic of Liberia Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, who was briefly in Brussels early in the week.

Harare, 18 December 2011/ The Standard: The Government of Zimbabwe says the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) regional grouping is dedicated to negotiating with the European Union (EU)’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that meet the expectations of member countries.

The EU recently issued a statement calling on countries that have not ratified and implemented the EPAs to do so. It warned that nations that fail to ratify the agreement will not benefit from market access to Europe from January 2014.

Suva, Fiji, 17 December 2011/ PIFS Press Release: Tonga’s Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries and the Pacific ACP Lead Spokesperson, Hon. ‘Isileli Pulu on behalf of the Pacific ACP Group provided an update of the Pacific ACP Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations to the 94^th ACP Council of Ministers on Friday 9^th December 2011 in Brussels. 

Brussels, 11 December 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: The Pacific Island Republic of Vanuatu is making large scale preparations in anticipation of the ACP Group’s 95^th Council of Ministers and 37^th session of the Joint Council with the European Union to be held next June.

Brussels, 10 December 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: Members of the ACP Council of Ministers stressed their commitment to finalising Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Europe, but staunchly oppose being rushed into free trade deals they say could be detrimental to the lives of their people.

Georgetown, Guyana, 8 December 2011/CARICOM: CARIFORUM Officials met with their European Union counterparts in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on December 8, to convene the First Meeting of the Special Committee on Customs Cooperation and Trade Facilitation under the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

This Special Committee Meeting was preceded by a CARIFORUM Preparatory Meeting on December 7.

Brussels, 7 December 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: Senior trade officials from ACP member countries concluded two days of intense discussions in preparation for key meetings within the coming weeks.