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.
CTA is to collaborate with the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment to draft a report on the Challenges for family farming and small-scale agriculture production in ACP countries. The report will consider the current status of family farming in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the main challenges that family farmers face, the approaches and responses needed to address the challenges – including identifying interventions that are already demonstrating successes. Lastly, it will evaluate what type of support can be provided by development partners, including the EU. It is foreseen that the report will be submitted before the Committee at the JPA regional meeting in Gaborone, Botswana in April 2016.
Presentation by CTA Director Michael HailuThe Cotonou Partnership Agreement between the EU and ACP states has made a positive contribution to poverty reduction, and human and social development in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. This is according to a recently published (21 March) summary report based on the results of a four month long public consultation on the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA) after 2020. Sustainable and inclusive economic growth, particularly in relation to the private sector, were not reported to have been as successful under the CPA. The report states that “respondents have mostly critical opinion of the effectiveness of the CPA, particularly with regard to private sector development and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), migration, the democratic governance related mechanisms and the generation of EU-ACP alliances on global challenges.”
On March 9 2016 the German Government and the Caribbean Community have agreed to extend their joint programme, “Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Technical Assistance (REETA)”. The REETA Programme aims at strengthening, at the regional and national level, sustainable development within the Caribbean Community through the increased use of renewable energy technologies and increased energy efficiency in the building sector. Under this new phase of the German-Caribbean cooperation, the German Government is providing 3 Million Euros to support the institutional and technical requirements for improving the financing environment for sustainable energy projects within the Region.