Council of the EU:
- 4 February: Meeting of General Affairs Council (GAC)
- 5-6 February: COREPER I
- 5 February: COREPER II
- 7-8 February: European Council

European Parliament:
- 4-7 February: European Parliament Plenary
- 4-7 February: European Parliament committee meetings

ACP Group:
- 4 February: S/C on Sustainable Development
- 5 February: 5th Steering Committee Meeting of the ACP Fish2 Programme
- 8 February: S/C on Political, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs

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.

If you are a producer in an ACP country and you want to export your products to the EU you might want to know that there exists a free online service from the European Commission- The Export Helpdesk- which can give you valuable information on:
- which are the requirements applying in EU for your product
- the maximum residual levels of pesticides
- traceability
- what should be on the label
- how to market the coffee.
- import tariffs for coffee, and the preferential arrangement applying
- trade flows (ex: which countries in Europe are buying already your product)
- authorities and international organizations in trade operations and trade promotion

Watch the CTA Brussels video with Ines Escudero Sanchez, Export Helpdesk coordinator to find out more about the this service.

The 30th Brussels Development Briefing will take place on 4th March 2013 (8h30-13h00) on the important issue of Agricultural resilience in the face of crisis and shocks, highlighting proven approaches and successes in key areas of agriculture and rural development of ACP countries and other parts of the world.
Confirmed speakers include: Sir Gordon Conway, Professor of International Development, Imperial College London, Luca Alinovi, Country Chief FAO, Somalia, IFPRI DG, Chris Reij, SLM specialist, Senior Fellow World Resources Institute, CIMMYT, Action Aid, Regional African Farmers Organisations, WFP.

The CTA is recruiting for the Brussels Office a trainee (Junior Research Assistant). It is open to ACP and EU nationals. A one six month’s contract will be offered from 1st March 2013. This contract can be renewed once for a maximum of 6 months. Read details on requirements and how to apply in the note attached.

UK MPs argue that the 40% of the official development assistance (ODA) budget for 2012, which is channeled through international organizations as the World Bank and the EU, might not have the expected results, given the lack of effectiveness of the institutions in allocating the money.