ACP-EU Assembly debate centres on food and financial crises and economic partnership agreements

The G-20's response to the world food and financial crisis, and efforts to make ACP-EU economic partnership agreements flexible enough to meet development needs, took centre stage at the 17th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Prague (Czech Republic) from 4 to 9 April. The JPA also adopted resolutions on climate change, reconciling democracy and diversity, and piracy off Somalia.

Twice a year the EU-ACP JPA brings together 78 members of the European Parliament and 78 parliamentarians from the African, Caribbean and Pacfic (ACP) states.
 
Food and financial crisis: How to make the G-20 deal deliver for developing countries
 
Development aid from the $1.1 trillion G-20 recovery plan agreed in London on 2 April needs to be new, fast, and additional to existing pledges, says a resolution adopted by the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 9 April. To ensure that the deal delivers for developing countries, the resolution also calls for reforms to put an end to tax evasion, commodity price speculation, farm export subsidies and food shortages.
 
Somalia: halt mayhem on land and piracy at sea
 
Reconciling Somalis on land, and international policing at sea, are both vital to halt widespread human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict in Somalia, build political stability, and put an end to the resulting piracy off its coast, says an urgent resolution voted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly on 9 April.
 
Redesigning development policy to cope with climate change
 
Development policy must be redesigned to cope with climate change consequences such as massive migration to escape rising sea levels, water supply problems, insect-borne disease and damage to agriculture and tourism, says a draft resolution adopted by the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) on 9 April. The report advocates low-carbon technology transfer, international trade taxes, national emission taxes and a “Global Financing Mechanism” to support climate change measures.
 
EPAs must be made more flexible, says ACP-EU JPA
 
To drive development through trade, EU-ACP economic partnership agreements (EPAs) must be made more flexible, supported with more aid, subjected to parliamentary scrutiny and prevented from damaging efforts to step up intra-ACP regional trade and alleviate poverty, says a resolution adopted by the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) on 9 April.
 
At the closing ceremony, Glenys Kinnock was voted an Honorary President of the ACP-EU JPA, in recognition of the distinguished services she had rendered the Assembly over fifteen years, of which eight as Co-President.  Mrs Kinnock will not be standing for re-election to the European Parliament.
 
In a moving speech, Louis Straker (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) described Mrs Kinnock as “indefatigable, irresistible, and unsinkable”, adding that she had “fought the good fight, run the race and kept the faith”.
 
“There are lots of battles still to fight, and I'll be there when I'm needed”, promised Mrs Kinnock.