ACP Secretariat
26 September: Joint Meeting on Financing for Development
27-28 September: Special meeting - Subcommittee on Sustainable Development -– Roadmap to COP 23
23-29 September: Subcommittee on Trade and Commodities
European Council
27 September: Coreper I and Coreper II
29 September: Coreper I
European Parliament
25 September: FEMM and DEVE Committees: Transforming the Lives of Girls and Women through EU External Relations 2016-2020
25-28 September: European Parliament Committee Meetings
EESC - European Economic and Social Committee
25 September: Monitoring of the implementation of SDGs Other events
Other Events
25-28 September: S&Ds Africa Week
27 September: InfoPoint Lunchtime Conference - Food Systems for Improved Nutrition: Why and How
Fiji could still enjoy a good price for its sugar by focusing on the Asia-Pacific market when duty-free access to the European Union ends this month, says Fiji Sugar Corporation CEO Graham Clark. Speaking at a press conference on Monday in Lautoka, he said while this month brings an end to a lucrative deal with the European Union, it would open up opportunities for other markets. "To date we have sold 93,096 of the 140,000 tonnes of sugar produced so far this year," he said. "The EU protocol ends on September 30 and new marketing era will emerge whereby all of our interaction with our European customers will basically be conducted on commercial terms that are linked to the world raw sugar price. “So we need to think how we can best operate to our own advantage and I think to capitalise on Fiji's geographic advantage."
The European Union (EU) and its member states are committed to supporting the conservation, sustainable management and use of natural resources, as well as the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems. These include forests, oceans, coastal areas, river basins and other ecosystems for the provision of ecosystem services. In line with international commitments, they have committed to tackling illegal logging and its associated trades - land and forest degradation, desertification, drought and biodiversity loss - and also promoting co-benefits from sustainable management, including enhancing climate resilience and adaptation.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will not be lending to the local financial sector after Zimbabwean banks told the lender that appetite for medium-term loans was presently low, it has emerged. European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe, Philippe van Damme, last week told The Financial Gazette that while the EIB was prepared to advance money for medium-term on-lending to local banks, the financial institutions had pointed out that the move was presently unprofitable. "The EIB board had given the green light for the bank to lend to the private sector with the entry point being the banking sector. So the arrangement was for medium-term lending credit for the informal sector and (so on).
Fourteen (14) Saint Lucian enterprises are getting hands-on with the development of export plans to effectively pursue existing market opportunities in France, Germany and Spain. This is another major milestone for the Trade Export Promotion Agency (TEPA) resulting from an ongoing project to equip trade promotion and business support organizations (TPOs/BSOs) to develop export capacity and market penetration strategies for a total of 26 qualifying Saint Lucian enterprises. The selected companies represent the Agriculture and Agro-processing, Food and Beverage, Creative Services, and Health and Wellness sectors. =