European Parliament

23 March: Committee on Foreign Affairs

23-24 Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

26 March: Committee on Regional Development

ACP Secretariat

26 March : Committee of Ambassadors

Other

19-20 March: EU-CELAC Civil Society Forum

The CTA Brussels News Service is providing EU-ACP policy news since 2004, on various key thematic areas. In addition to this news service, we also provide news on ACP intra-regional trade, and south-south cooperation (investments of emerging countries' in agriculture in the ACP regions). The main stories for the week are featured in our newsletter and all stories can be found in our Regional Trade and the South-South cooperation sections.

In response to the devastation caused by the tropical cyclone Pam in Vanuatu, the European Union is giving an initial sum of € 1 million (around Kina 3 million) to help the emergency relief efforts.  Two EU experts have been dispatched to assess the humanitarian needs and liaise with partner organisations. Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management said, "It is with great sadness that I learn about the tragic loss of life and scale of destruction caused by cyclone Pam. My thoughts go to the victims and their families. The European Union stands by the people of Vanuatu in this hour of need and offers its immediate assistance". 

The EU recently pledged an additional €2 million to the WTO Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) and a further €100,000 for evaluating the fund. The contributions aim to support the active participation of developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) in the Doha Round negotiations. The DDAGTF finances around 280 activities per year, mostly tailor-made training delivered at regional and national level, covering all trade-related areas including trade facilitation, agriculture and services. Angelos Pangratis, EU Ambassador to the WTO, stated: "The EU and its member states remain the leading donors of trade-related technical assistance, evidenced once again by our latest contribution to the DDAGTF. In total, the European Union has donated €10.6 million to the DDAGTF since 2003.

Jamaican farmers will expand exports of bananas to the United Kingdom (UK) under a new push that will add ripe fruit to the line-up, alongside plans to negotiate new shipping arrangements. Currently, green bananas are sold to wholesalers and retailers in three main markets - Cayman Islands, Canada and the United Kingdom - but under a new project, small farmers will produce bananas at international standards for the ripe fruit trade to attract premium prices in niche markets. Banana Board is leading this new ripe fruit project, which will begin in fiscal 2015-16, targeting farmers who together will cultivate 115 hectares to supply markets in the UK with three containers of fruit weekly. The new project should bring 115 new jobs to the sector, while increasing overall production of bananas by 50 tonnes per week or 2,500 tonnes per year