Brussels, 11 December 2011/UNEP/ACP  – During the recent council meeting of African, Caribbean and Pacific state Ministers, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner made a special presentation to highlight the important role of ACP countries  in the run up to the UN Conference on  Sustainable Development Rio+20.

The ACP Council of Ministers is the Group´s main decision-making body. It is the supreme body responsible for implementing the guidelines laid down by the Summit. Ministerial sectoral meetings are also held regularly. The Council is composed of a member of Government from each ACP State or a government-designated representative. The 94th Session of the ocuncil was held in Brussels, Belgium 7-9 December and adopted four key resolutions.

RESOLUTIONS

1. BANANAS
2. SUGAR
3. COTTON
4. ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS (EPAs)

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.

ACP PRESS RELEASE, 9 December 2011: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) and the Federative Republic of Brazil today signed a landmark agreement to build South-South solidarity through enhanced technical cooperation and dialogue between the two parties.

ACP PRESS RELEASE, 8 December 2011: The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have agreed to boost cooperation in the field of capacity building to strengthen members’ economic institutions and policy making expertise.

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.

Over one hundred people representing forty countries gathered in Brussels in mid-November in preparation for the UNFCCC COP17 conference. Attending the first day sessions on renewable energy were experts, researchers, beneficiaries, NGO representatives, private investors already present in the ACP countries and prospecting financiers. Discussions focused on scaling up renewable energy investments in the ACP region. Produced by BizClim.

Busan, 30 November 2011/ PIFS/ ACP Newsdesk: Two regional allies of the ACP Group of States, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), have called for stronger recognition of the vital role of regional platforms and organizations in enhancing links between country priorities and global efforts for effective development cooperation.