Council of Ministers
-16 July: Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRI-FISH)
-18 July: COREPER I
-18/19 July: COREPER II
ACP Group
- 16 July:  Management meeting
- 16/20 July: Regional meeting ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

European Parliament
-9/10 July : Committee on Foreign Affairs
-9/10 July : Committee on Development
-11/12 July : Committee on Fisheries
-9/10 July : Committee on International Trade
Council of Ministers
-11 July: COREPER I
-09 July: COREPER II
ACP Group
- 9 July:  Management meeting

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

European Parliament
-2 and 5 July : Committee on Foreign Affairs
Council of Ministers
-6 July: COREPER I
ACP Group
- 2 July:  Management meeting
- 3 July:  Special meeting of the Committee of Ambassadors
- 4 July:  CaribErasmus International Seminar
- 6 July:  SEDT Department

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

European Parliament
- 25 June: Committee on Foreign Affairs
- 25 June: Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Council of ministers
- 25 June: Meeting of Foreign Affairs Council (Luxembourg)
- 25 June: Meeting of General Affairs Council (Luxembourg)
- 27 June: COREPER I (Brussels)
European Council
- 28/29 June: European Council meeting
ACP Group
- 25 June: Management Meeting
- 25 June: Ad Hoc W/G on Functioning and Organs of the ACP Group
- 27 June: W/G on the Future perspectives of the ACP Group
- 28 June: Visit of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors to the EIB Headquarters (Luxembourg)
Research events
- 26 June: Brussels Development Briefing: “Addressing  Food Waste in times of crisis”

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

According to the Parliament, the international organisation Oxfam stated that "much more" needed to be done to tackle the food crisis in the Sahel region.As crop shortages, rising food prices, poor governance and conflict, among others, are leaving more than one million children under five facing acute under-nutrition, there are growing concerns the crisis will escalate in the coming months.

European Parliament
- 18/19 June: Committee on Foreign Affairs
- 18/19 June: Committee on Development
- 20/21 June: Committee on International Trade 
- 18/19 June: Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
- 22 June:  Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
- 20/21 June : Committee on Environment
Council of ministers
- 18 June: Meeting of Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRI) (Luxembourg)
- 20 June: COREPER I (Brussels)
- 20/21 June: COREPER II  (Brussels)
ACP Group
- 18 June: 3^rd Meeting  of ACP Ministers responsible for Fisheries (Fiji)
- 20/22 June: Rio+20 - United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

While the upcoming meetings in Los Cabos and Rio have been catching the attention of the development community, several ACP- EU level events, as well as fisheries opportunities encouraged discussion last week.
In the light of G-20 Group meeting, which will take place in Los Cabos, Secretary-General Ban Ki moon has stressed the need to find ways to stimulate the global economy, while ensuring inclusive green growth that drives sustainable development.  "We stand at a crossroads. Our common future is at stake", he said. He also took the opportunity to draw attention to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), as it will bring together the world community, including up to 130 heads-of-state and government to Brazil, who are expected to define steps to be taken toward a more equitable and more respectful position on world resources.
Of particular note regarding the fisheries sector, the European Commission has spelled out its intentions for fixing fishing opportunities for 2013. Through this annual document the Commission asks for the views of Member States and stakeholders on the setting of Total Allowable Catches (TACs), quotas and fishing effort (days-at-sea) for the following year. The document shows that the Commission's efforts to phase out overfishing are starting to bear fruit. There are now 20 fish stocks in European seas which are known not to be overfished, compared to only 5 stocks in 2009. Reducing TACs in the past years even made it possible to increase some TACs for 2012. This could result in at least €135 million extra income for the fishing industry. Additionaly, the European Commission, on behalf of the EU, and the Republic of Kiribati initialed a new Protocol to the Fisheries Partnership Agreement. This new Protocol will cover a period of 3 years and provide fishing opportunities, which include a reference tonnage of 15,000 tons.

European Parliament
-11/14 June: Plenary session
Council of Ministers
-14 June: COREPER I
-13/14 June: COREPER II
-11 June: Environment Council (ENVI),  (Horsens, Denmark) 
-12 June: Agriculture and Fisheries Council (FISH), (Horsens, Denmark)
ACP Group
-11/13 June: 95th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers  (Vanuatu)
-14/15 June: 37th Session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers   (Vanuatu) 
Research events
-13 June: Market Access Conference 2012, (Copenhagen, Denmark)

You can also read our newspaper “CTA Brussels Daily” (fed by our Twitter account), follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.

As we reported last week, Horsens saw the 23rd ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. The meeting was held jointly by the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach, on behalf of the EU Council of Ministers, who responded to questions from the assembly.

Horsens, Denmark, recently witnessed the latest ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA).  Apart from topics frequently discussed by the MEPs and their counterparts from the ACP Countries during previous meetings, they also took a deeper look at the consequences of the instability in Africa. While Louis Michel, Co-President of the Assembly, spoke in particular of the potentially devastating consequences of political insecurity in Mali for neighbouring states, such as Niger, Mauritania and Senegal, the side effects of the Libyan conflict on both the ACP Group and the EU were also discussed. Addressing the deputies, Mr. Michel also warned that the current crisis in the Sahel region could not be solved without both political and military intervention.
Renewed calls for flexibility on trade negotiations also echoed from the meeting. The President of the ACP members, Hon. Musikari Kombo (Kenya), demanded a withdrawal of the EU proposal to amend market access laws, which would set a deadline for finalising Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) for ACP countries, or else lose duty- and quota-free access to EU markets.
Moreover, ACP Secretary General Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas appealed for an approach based on “partnership”, with coherence between trade policies and development goals. “We will continue with the negotiations with a view of concluding EPAs that will be development-friendly – that is, EPAs which address our supply side constraints, development constraints and infrastructure constraints which do not enable us to produce and take advantage of the big European market.”