ACP Secretariat
15 February: Subcommittee on Trade & Commodites
16 February: Joint ACP-EU DFC Committee
16-17 February: Subcommittee on Establishment and Finance
18 February: ACP-EC Joint Technical Committee on Sugar
19 February: Subcommittee on Sustainable Development
European Parliament
15-18 February: European Parliament Committee Meetings
16 February: European Parliament: Workshop on Policy Coherence for Development
Council of the EU
16 February: EU General Affairs Council
17 February: Coreper I
18-19 February: European Council
19 February: Coreper I
Other events
16 February: Infopoint Lunchtime Conference: Private Sector & Sustainable Tourism
17 February: Infopoint Information session on the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
17 February: European humanitarian roundtables 2016 (Sweden)
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.
A review of policy issues and challenges facing agriculture and rural development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries from 2007 until 2015 is now available in multimedia DVD and USB stick. Knowledge and policy dialogue are a prerequisite for Brussels-based actors engaged in ACP agriculture to be able to better respond to emerging challenges. To help meet this need, CTA has just released a new multimedia pack that reviews key documents and highlights from the Brussels Development Briefings spanning eight years. Including more than 30 background research documents ('readers'), the pack aims to provide insight from experts, decision makers and key actors, in a format that contributes to knowledge sharing amongst the development community in Brussels and beyond.
Full ArticleXSML, the Amsterdam-headquartered private equity fund manager, has held the first close for its African River Fund at $45 million, attracting commitments from a number of development finance institutions including all three investors in the fund manager’s $19 million maiden fund, the Central Africa SME fund. African Rivers Fund, which has a hard cap of $65 million, will target debt, equity and mezzanine finance to rapidly growing SMEs in Central Africa in deals ranging from $100,000 to $5 million in size. While their commitment levels were not disclosed, among the new investors for this closing were the Belgium Investment Company for Developing Countries, the Dutch Good Growth Fund and FISEA, the investment fund held by Agence Française Développment.
The representatives of the European diplomatic missions met the General Secretariat of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) on 20 January 2016. Having worked in partnership for more than 30 years, the two bodies talked and confirmed their commitment to regional stability, an important development factor in the countries of this region. "The European Union recognises the role of the IOC as an organisation for proximity regional cooperation and remains the first technical partner and financial backer of the organisation", says a communiqué of the Indian Ocean Commission. The achievements of the IOC through projects financed under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF), in particular in fishing, maritime security and sustainable management of natural resources and pioneering initiatives conducted in the field of connectivity (digital, air and maritime), were discussed.