European Commission
12 June: Biomass Conference and Exhibition
European Parliament
CTA, in collaboration with various partners, participated in a number of panels at the European Development Days 2017, which took place from the 7th to 8th of June in Brussels (Tour et Taxis). These panels addressed key subjects concerning the future of agriculture: Trade & Investment, Women entrepreneurs and Youth in Agribusiness. Over the space of two days, CTA brought to the forefront of the development community the most pressing issues affecting the agriculture and rural development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
For information on all five panels, visit: http://bit.ly/2qK2h8C
In his bullish drive for investment, Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, Monday, signed a partnership agreement with his counterpart in Shaanxi Province in China, Hu Heping, to bolster the injection of capital for business in the state. The agreement will allow Chinese businessmen pump the much desired capital into the Calabar Carnival, Power, and Solid Minerals sectors of the state. Ayade said after the signing of the agreement that "It is the enormous opportunities that this fund avails Africa that Cross River State wants to tap into. We have the assurances of the Governor and the people of Shaanxi that the favourable business climate in Cross River State will be utilised by Shaanxi." The China-Africa Development Fund, CAD Fund, in May 2016, signed a cooperation agreement with the Shaanxi Government in the capital Xi'an, the first of its kind with a provincial-level partner that aims to boost more investment in the African market.
The massive need for investment in projects of public interest in developing countries cannot be met by the public sector alone, this is why the involvement of the private sector in reaching the SDGs is key, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview. Neven Mimica is Croatia’s first European Commissioner since the country’s EU accession in 2013. He has served as Minister of European integration and as Deputy Prime Minister. He is affiliated to the Social Democratic Party of Croatia.
EU farm and food businesses may pay a big price for Brexit if new trade barriers pop up and dim the British appetite for products like Irish cheddar, French wine and Danish bacon, experts and advocates warn. Sounding the alarm is the main European farmers' union, Copa-Cogeca, which released a preliminary 156-page report one month after Britain formally told Brussels in late March it will withdraw from the bloc. "Farmers should not have to pay the price of a political decision," Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson warned, referring to the risk of post-Brexit trade barriers like tariffs. Farmers in the remaining 27 European Union states could find it particularly hard to export to such an important market as Britain, a net importer, if London and Brussels fail to strike a post-Brexit free-trade deal. Prices could increase sharply if Britain leaves the customs union under a "hard" Brexit, something British Prime Minister Theresa May has not ruled out if she does not get the new trade terms she wants. British consumers would then likely buy fewer of the EU agriculture products they have become used to in the last four decades.