…highlights importance of agriculture, natural resources sectors

VICE President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge on Wednesday addressed the 35th Session of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and the European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Brussels, Belgium.

Speaking on behalf of President-In-Office of the ACP Council of Ministers, Foreign Minister Greenidge highlighted the importance of the JPA and noted that as a sounding board for policy and agenda setting entity on North-South cooperation, it was the only structured forum of its kind covering four global geographical spaces.

“The adoption of the Negotiating Mandate has strengthened us in the endeavour to collectively ensure that the ACP-EU Post-Cotonou Agreement lives up to our expectations in achieving UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the achievement of which we have all given an unambiguous commitment,” Minister Greenidge was quoted in a release as saying.

Noting the importance that the ACP Group placed on the need for people-based development, the minister outlined the steps that it was taking to improve the agricultural sector in a number of production sectors, including bananas, sugar, rum, fisheries and livestock, among others. “The ACP Council in Lomé finalized a framework programme that aims at addressing access to finance, capacity building, trade and investment, and climate related risks,” he explained. The agriculture sector accounted for about 90 per cent of exports for ACP Member States, the Minister further said.

Meanwhile, Minister Greenidge pointed to the Group’s development of a framework of action for the mineral sector, which aimed at fostering the development of resources in support of sustainable development of ACP countries and would contribute to poverty alleviation and social development in the mining sector. “The post-2020 framework will focus on scaling up industrial opportunities, notably through the creation of linkages and value-added activities in various sectors, including extractive industries and through support to manufacturing industries,” he stated.

With the Cotonou Agreement set to expire in 2020, both the ACP Group and the EU are engaged in discussions to develop a legally-binding arrangement that builds on the present agreement. On May 30, 2018, the ACP Group adopted its negotiating mandate for a post-Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the European Union.