European Council

10 – 11 November: Council of Ministers on « Agriculture and Fisheries”

European Parliament

10 – 11 November: Parliamentary committees meetings

12 – 13 November: Plenary session

ACP Secretariat

10 – 11 November: Symposium on Private Sector Development support in ACP countries

Autre

12-13 November : AidEx 2014 on ‘Innovation in Aid & Development’ – (1 - Place de Belgique) Brussels

14 November: Europaid Conference “Learning from our practice: How to engage with agricultural private sector in ACP countries? “  (12h30 – 14h) – Brussels 

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The next CTA Brussels Development Briefing on “Global food systems, local impact: the role of agribusiness and development partnerships in advancing African agriculture” will take place Tuesday 25th November 2014 (9h-13h) at the ACP Secretariat (451 Avenue Georges Henri, 1200 Brussels, room C).

The transformation of the African agri-business sector is a key challenge to achieve food security and economic development. A differentiated approach to partnerships, based on the development of competitive local private sectors, is essential to boosting agricultural development in Africa.

In this context, the objective of this Brussels Briefing is to discuss strategies and approaches for harnessing the potential of development partnerships with the private sector to catalyse market development and productivity in African countries.

The outcome of this meeting should be a better understanding of the needs and constraints of the local agricultural sector and strengthen linkages between private sector and development cooperation. At the European level, the meeting would contribute to the development of a framework for dialogue and effective joint action with the private sector.

Speakers will include the European Commisison (DG Agri and  DG Devco), Yara, the Farmers organizations (SACAU, EAFF), some EU agribusiness groups operating in Africa, European Investment Bank, BMZ, AUC.

You can find attached a note on this Briefing.

A detailed programme will be available in the coming days.

The Fairtrade Foundation has urged food companies and retailers to choose Fairtrade sugar, amid concerns that a sugar price slump and CAP reforms could push thousands of workers into poverty. The non-profit organisation said many African, Caribbean and Pacific countries could be squeezed out of the European sugar market after CAP reform comes into effect in 2017.

The European Union (EU) has softened its stance and halted plans to ban agricultural exports from Uganda, Saturday Vision has learnt. The development comes barely a week after reports that no agricultural products from Uganda would be allowed entry into Europe after it was said that fresh food exports had failed to comply with EU plant health requirements. This followed the discovery of pests in red peppers and roses consignments destined for Brussels, Belgium last month. Last week, Saturday Vision reported that the ban was set to be implemented next month, which would have hit hard over 170 fresh commodity exporters and thousands of farmers involved in the export chain. This would have resulted in the Government losing billions in revenue. EU’s programme officer for trade in Uganda, Céline Prud’homme Madsen, told said sanctions against Uganda have been put on hold because EU has received promising progress of action on the errant exporters.