Saturday (July 19th), President Michel Martelly, accompanied by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, participated in Bois-Moquette, Pétion ville, in the presence of the Ambassador of the European Union (EU) in Port-au-Prince, Javier Niño Peréz, representatives of Haitian institutions, international officials and employees of the Delegation... at the inauguration of the new premises of the EU Delegation in Haiti, heavily damaged during the earthquake of January 2010.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on Monday vowed to fight tooth and nail to avert a possible European ban on citrus imports from South Africa. This came after lemons contaminated with black spot fungus were found in a shipment to the Netherlands. “If decisions are taken that keep us out of an important market and have implications for jobs, we will not hesitate to use whatever tools are available in our tool box to defend our interests in this regard,” Davies told a media briefing in Cape Town.
The Government of Rwanda and the European Union (EU) today held strategic bilateral talks on how to further strengthen bilateral development cooperation. During the meeting Government updated the EU on the country’s latest macroeconomic performance and medium term projections while the latter discussed implementation of the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) and the allocations of the 11th EDF amounting to €460 million for the next 5 years.
The Council today (July 23rd) adopted its first-reading position on a draft directive granting to member states more flexibility to decide whether or not they wish to cultivate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their territory. The adoption follows the political agreement reached in the Environment Council on 12 June. The Italian presidency is expected to start negotiations with the newly elected European Parliament in early autumn 2014.
The Kenya Flower Council (KFC) has expressed concerns over the delay in signing the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). With the October 14 deadline approaching fast, the council noted that failure to sign the deal could spell doom for the country’s horticulture sector. According to KFC chief executive officer Jane Ngige, the country stands to loose its duty free quota and free access in the European market. However, Ngige is optimistic that the ongoing talks though slow would yield results and the agreement signed before the deadline. “We are keenly following the ongoing EPA negotiations and hope for a quick agreement as failure would spell doom for the country,” she said.