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.

Brussels, 18 December 2011/ ACP Observatory on Migration: The International Migrants’ Day is celebrated around the world every 18th December, ten days after the Human Rights Day. These two events are linked, since the protection of the rights of migrants remains a challenging issue in many regions of the world. The particular case of women migrants and the impact of migration in the life of women needs to be urgently tackled.

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, 13 December 2011: The Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States has appointed international relations specialist Professor Dr. Mirjam van Reisen to undertake a critical study on future perspectives for the ACP Group, aimed at reviewing the value and essence of the institution and how it can effectively adapt to changing geopolitical realities.

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.