The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

- The President-in-Office of the ACP Ministerial Council, Dr.
Onofre Rojas, Minister of State of the Dominican Republic; - Honourable Ministers,
- Secretary-General of the ACP Secretariat, Sir John Kaputin;
- Distinguished Delegates;
- Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the government and people of Papua New Guinea, to extend to all of you a warm welcome to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

All of you have come from afar to reach here - some from the great continent of Africa, whilst others from the wonderful Caribbean, and of course to our own regional colleagues around the Pacific.

I urge you whilst in Papua New Guinea, to enjoy the hospitality of the people of Papua New Guinea and indeed the culture and scenery of the country.

If you have some time, I encourage you to visit not only some of the interesting sights of Port Moresby, but also visit other parts of the country.

F or some of you, it may also be your first visit to the Pacific region. If that is the case, then I would urge you, if time permits, to visit some of these wonderful island countries of the Pacific.

Mr President,
I would like to also take this opportunity to thank the ACP Council, and ACP- EU Joint Council for honouring Papua New Guinea with the privilege to host the ACP and Joint ACP-EU Council meetings.

Mr President,
Papua New Guinea places great importance to its special relationship with the ACP group of the countries, and through it, the European Union.

It is through this ACP relationship established under the Georgetown Agreement, that we have been able to gain substantial development benefits under successive Lome Conventions and the current Cotonou Agreement. Those benefits continue to this day.

And in this regard, we all thank the European Union for the enormous contributions it has made to the ACP Group for over 30 years towards our respective development efforts.

It is indeed a umque North-South relationship which has yielded substantial positive results for both partners.

It is a clear demonstration to the world that it is possible to have a productive and fruitful bilateral or multilateral relationship, where there is a keen and sincere desire from both parties to have it.

Mr President
Our relationship with the EU has matured over these years and I am of the firm view that we are now able to cooperate and work together as one single force to meet the challenges of the new millennium. We can do this at various international fora, as we already demonstrated at some of the international meetings. A good example of this was our collaborative efforts at the World Trade Organisations (WTO), and I understand this is continuing.

I believe the same could also be done at the United Nations where _ as we all know, major international political, economic, social and security issues are discussed. I am sure that some effort from the ACP and the Union in taking common positions on some of the issues could send powerful signals to the international community of our resolve to work together and have common positions on some issues. The ACP-EU partnership arrangement could be transformed into a formidable political force at the international arena.

Mr. President, Coming back to an issue which is closer to our hearts at this point in time in as far as ACP-EU relations are concerned, we are now in the final stages of our negotiations with the European Union on the Economic Partnership Arrangement (EPA). I am informed that some serious problems have emerged in the course of the negotiations, especially in relation to meeting the cost of fundamental structural adjustments resulting from the EPA.

Without belabouring on the details of the difficulties which I am sure you are all aware of, it is vitally important to ensure that we agree on a new arrangement that will not only bring prosperity and development to our people, but most importantly reduce poverty, which is the main focus of the Cotonou Agreement.

As many of you are aware, during the negotiations leading up to the current Cotonou Agreement, a great deal of discussions took place concerning the use of the term 'Economic Partnership Agreement' and as opposed to reference to simply trade, as provided in previous Lome Conventions.

I am told that one of the main reasons for using the term Economic Partnership Agreement was because the new trading arrangement would be of a developmental nature requiring substantial development assistance to enable ACP countries to integrate smoothly into the international trading system. This understanding was later supported and reinforced during the Doha round which focused on developmental aspects.

So we are all surprised by the position of the European Union on this important matter and I would therefore like to urge all ACP states to take a firm united position on this critical issue. Whatever configuration the EPA takes, it should not place any ACP member state in a worse off position than what is currently enjoyed under the Cotonou Agreement and successive Lome Conventions.

The requirement for us to be WTO compatible in the new trading arrangement with the European Union could be costly to some ACP states, and seriously undermine their fragile economies. Such a situation would certainly not address the fundamental objective of the ACP-EU partnership arrangement - which is to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty.

Mr. President
The people from our ACP states will no doubt look forward to the outcome of your deliberations here in Port Moresby on this very important issue.

This Session is being held at a time when new challenges are confronting not only the ACP group, but the international community as a whole. The ACP group therefore needs to be vigilant and proactive in confronting these new challenges, including the conclusion of the EPA.

While the WTO system is proposing greater liberalisation and globalisation through the lifting of trade barriers, it appears that developed countries are not serious in opening up their economies for fair trade of goods and services.

Market access to developed countries is still restricted by non tariff barriers such as prohibitive quarantine and legal requirements.

These challenges give more reason for the ACP countries to refocus its future work plans beyond the EU and the EPA negotiations. We should also be working together on other issues such as sustainable development using our natural resources.

I note that Climate Change and Development is on the agenda of the joint ACP-ED Ministerial Council meeting which follows immediately after this meeting in the next couple of days. Environmental protection, sustainable development and management of natural resources are essential elements of fostering sustainable economic growth.

Mr. President,
In this regard, I would like to inform the Council that Papua New Guinea, together with other rainforest nations have commenced an initiative that should allow deforestation to be included in any carbon trading mechanism.

The Kyoto Protocol as we all know addresses emission reduction in developed nations and compensate them for doing so. I believe the initiative that Papua New Guinea is jointly leading with Costa Rica, provides for rainforest nations to be given the opportunity to develop their forest resources in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.

Papua New Guinea would like to request the assistance and support of the ACP group of countries on this important initiative which will benefit many ACP and other developing countries, and also the international community.

Finally, Mr. President, I wish you well in your deliberations over the next few days. Like you I look forward to a successful outcome. What remains for me now is to declare, with honour, the 83rd Session of the ACP Council of Ministers opened.

Thank you.