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			SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 32nd MEETING OF THE  COUNCIL OF ACP MINISTERS  (Brussels, 3RD TO 8TH OCTOBER 1983 ) Ref:ACP/25/002/84 AMS/de/yz Brussels, 8th April 1984

SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 32ND SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF

ACP MINISTERS HELD FROM 3RD TO 8TH OCTOBER 1983 AT

ACP HOUSE

OPENING CEREMONY

1. The 32nd Session of the Council of ACP Ministers was opened on Monday 3rd October 1983 under the Chairmanship of H. E. Mr. A. M. MOGWE, President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Botswana. In his opening statement the President of Council expressed the view that on that specific occasion he would refrain from making a long speech.. As there was a heavy programme of work as evidenced by the proposed agenda, he had thought it advisable to forego this formality. There might be a need, observed the President, for Council to hold night sessions but this would depend very much on how diligently Council despatched its business.

COUNCIL' PROCEEDINGS

ITEM 1

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA (Doc. ACP/25/007/83 (Secr) REV.6

In view of the work at hand the lack of progress in consultations the Bureau of Council, the President informed the meeting, recommended that the consideration of item ii be deferred to next Council meeting. Council adopted the Bureau's recommendation.

With regard to item 14 of the draft agenda, the President advised that discussions on it be equally deferred as they would weaken, at that stage, the Group's negotiating position.

Council took note of the Bureau's advice and decided to maintain item 14 on its agenda in accordance with the decision of its 31st session.

Council further decided to reverse the order of the item of the agenda, thus placing items 8 and 9 immediately after item 5. Special agendas were prepared for discussions on items 8 and 9. The draft agenda (Doc. ACP/25/007/83 ((Secr)Rev. 6) was finally adopted with the above amendements.

ITEM 2

COMMUNICATION

The President informed Council that the Bureau had considered the application of St. Christopher and Nevis for accession to the Lome Convention and the Georgetown Agreement and recommended acceptance of the newly independent state as the 64th Member of the ACP Group of States. Council approved the recommendation of the Bureau.

The President added that the Ministerial Bureau submitted for approval by Council the application of the people's Republics of Angola and Mozambique for observer status during the negotiations. The President expressed the hope that these sister countries would make a valuable contribution to the negotiating process. Council approved the admission of Angola and Mozambique as observers and the President extended a warm welcome to the 2 delegations concerned on behalf of Council.

The President informed Council that President Samora Machel of Mozambique, who would be in Brussels on Tuesday, 4th of October, would be paying a visit to ACP House at 4.30 p.m. On this occasion he would address Council.

ITEM 3

DESIGNATION OF RAPPORTEUR

Council endorsed the designation by the four African regions of Mauritius as Rapporteur for the Session. He would be assisted by a drafting Committee composed of the following five representatives of the other regions of the ACP Group:

West Africa : Nigeria

Central Africa : Cameroon

Southern Africa : Zimbabwe

Caribbean : Jamaica

¨Pacific : Tonga

ITEM 4

ADOPTION OF THE RAPPORTEUR' REPORT ON THE PROCEEDINGS

OF THE 31ST SESSION OF THE COUNCIL OF ACP MINISTERS

[DOC. ACP/26/095/83 REV.1]

H. E. Mr. J. D. V. CAVALEVU Ambassador of Fiji Presenting his report stressed the need for Council to get before the conclusion of its deliberation an accurate report of the proceedings of Council. He had received support from the Secretariat and his friends from the various regional groupings to get the report out. There had been, however, a problem posed by translation and all his effort to get the document translated had been unsuccessful. Admittedly, the team of translators was fully busy on other documents relating to the 2 Ministerial Sessions. The report had to be tidied up and was only available for endorsement by the Committee of Ambassadors on Friday, 30th September 1983.

H E Mr. J. D. V. CAVALEVU expressed the view that the Community was enjoying a balance of advantage in the ACP/EEC Trade Cooperation. Unilateral action had been taken in respect of strawberries and coffee in contravention of the spirit and letter of the Convention. With regard to Trade promotion there was a new approach which went beyond the normal Trade Fairs. New restrictions in the form of limited quotas were imposed on ACP Groups' products.

There was inside the Community a complex bureaucratic machinery which complicated and delayed the process of implementation of the provisions of the Convention, the interpretation of which was very much in the hands of the Community despite the fact that the Convention had been jointly agreed upon and signed by the two parties.

The delegate of Kenya expressed concern over the delay of the Community in taking a decision on strawberries from Kenya and he proposed that the President of the ACP Council should make, on behalf of his country, representations to his EEC counterpart in Luxembourg in order to find a speedy solution to the problem, in time for the new season.

After the Rapporteur had gone over the report highlighting the main points, Council approved his report.

ITEM 5

REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE ACP COMMITTEE OF AMBASSADORS

In his preliminary remarks he Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors, H. E. Mr. J.D.V. Cavalevu, Ambassador of Fiji told the meeting that though he with his Bureau had been in office for relatively short period he had able to count on the presence and support of all his colleagues. He acknowledged his indebtedness to his predecessor, H. E. Mr. Berhane GHEBRAY, Ambassador of Ethiopia and his Bureau who held office in a difficult period as the ACP braced themselves up for the launching of negotiations with the EEC. He paid tribute to the Preparatory Negotiating Working Group which had, under the able chairmanship of Ambassador Chief Afolabi of Nigeria with the assistance of the Secretariat.

During the limited period of his tenure of office, continued the Chairman, the Committee of Ambassadors was mainly preoccupied with the carrying out of Council's mandate with regard to the tidying up of the Draft Memorandum for despatch to all ACP capitals. This task was accomplished by the Committee of Ambassadors though the deadline was not met owing to some material problems caused by the limited resources of the ACP General Secretariat.

The Chairman of the Committee indicated that he wold, however, report on what had happened since the Committee of Ambassadors was placed under his chairmanship. The following points under the various areas of cooperation within the framework of the present Convention featured notably in the report:

(I) TRADE

No significant progress had been achieved in this area of cooperation. There was a need for a study of the reasons for deterioration in terms of trade.

(ii) SUPPLY OF AVAILABLE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Considerable difficulties were being experienced in the attempt to resolve the problem of the supply of available agricultural products. This was again illustrated in the recent Consultative Assembly in Berlin. There was need to mobilise all possible political support from the ACP Group in order to arrive at a solution.

(iii) GENERALIZED SCHEME OF PREFERENCES

The Committee of Ambassadors had received proposals for the Community on the generalized tariff preferences for 1984 and they were being examined by the ACP General Secretariat.

(iv) ENLARGEMENT OF COMMUNITY TO INCLUDE SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Since the last report by the Committee of Ambassadors on this question the Community had to given any indication on the stage reached in the negotiations for the accession of the above countries to the EEC. However, the Committee of Ambassadors had commissioned studies on the possible effects on the ACP States of the accession of the two countries to the EEC. A report was submitted but the Committee of Ambassadors, not entirely satisfied with the studies, requested that the Consultant fill the gaps in the said report.

(v) TRADE PROMOTION

The situation with regard to trade promotion had not evolved much. Other mechanisms than trade fairs and exhibitions were required to effectively promote trade. As free access in itself had proved inadequate, it was strongly advised that in the new arrangements with the EEC the basis of ACP-EEC trade be re-examined and special measures be devised to redress the imbalance of the trade exchange between the two partners.

(vi) CUSTOMS COOPERATION

The ACP were pleased to note some advance with reference to dérogation: fishing flies, tuna, although Basic difficulties in this area remained. Non tariff barriers militated against the competitivity and entry of £ACP products to the markets of the Community. The question of rules of origin had to be studied in detail. The Chairman of the committee of Ambassadors said that they were too negative and restrictive and impeded entry of other rare goods the ACP were able to produce. Further, rules of origin should be modified to take into account certain changes which had occured at international level.

(Vii) SUGAR

The Chairman informed the meeting that the sugar talks had broken down. The EEC had offered a mere 4% increase to the ACP. The price offer had to be rejected because it did not take account of the relevant economic factors.

The process of re-examination of the Sugar Protocol had been the object of discussions with the Community. The ACP had reached to the proposed draft Declaration submitted by the Community and a reply was still being awaited.

The request from Ivory Coast to accede to the Sugar Protocol was still being considered by the relevant institutions of the Community. Zimbabwe had, with the support of the ACP, made an approach to the Community for a revision of the décision to admit this country with a quota of 25,000 tons. Zimbabwe was entitled to an increased quota commensurate with its export capacity.

Temporary reallocations had been effected smoothly.

(vii) STABEX

The calculation of STABEX transfer, the inclusion of new products, the insufficiency of STABEX resources were problems which required a political approach to influence the members of the Commission and the Member States. There was a need for a technical analysis of the issues involved in order to put the ACP case to the EEC. It was noted that the resources allocated to the STABEX system were inadequate to meet the intended objectives of the scheme under Convention.

An effective system was therefore required for relating resources available to the STABEX scheme and a more comprehensive list of ACP products should be drawn up to cover more products in the successor Convention. The Committee had also highlighted the fact that the Community had a mutual interest in commodities and mineral resources as well as in the stabilisation of export earnings.

(ix) SYSMIN

The amount of resources available for disbursements were also inadequate. At the last ACP/EEC Council meeting concern was expressed on this issue. There was on the part of the Community a lack of interest in mining projects, an attitude detrimental to ACP countries with mineral resources.

(x) AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION.

Mr. Daniel Mba from Cameroon had been appointed Director of the Centre and was working temporarily in ACP House. The services of Dr. Stevens had been provided by F.A.O to advise on the possible arrangement in respect of Agricultural Cooperation under the Successor Agreement to Lome II Convention.

(xi) FINANCIAL, AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

By way of specific example, the ACP Group should try to convince the Community of the existence of problems in this area after identifying them.

(xii) LEAST DEVELOPED, LANDLOCKED AND ISLAND COUNTRIES

It had not been possible for the group to meet. The ACP had been preoccupied by the preparation of the ACP position with regard to the negotiations with the EEC.

(xiii) THE ACP GROUP'S POSITION IN THE FUTURE RELATION WITH THE EEC

The Chairman told Council that the ACP Group had organised themselves structurally. The ACP Memorandum on future relations with the EEC had been the object of the responses from some twenty ACP States. The memorandum would be finalised after the session, taking into account observations from ACP capitals.

With regard to the choice of ACP negotiations to constitute the ACP negotiating team, the Committee of Ambassadors had come forward with the recommendation that the ablest person be selected based on a regional geographical distribution. The question of the choice of these negotiator would be resolved after the Luxembourg meeting.

(xiv) TECHNICAL STUDIES

The Committee of Ambassadors was preoccupied with the question of preparation of technical studies. A number of these were commissioned by the Committee of Ambassadors and a few had been received. In addition the Committee of Ambassadors had directed that the Secretariat prepare a technical dossier on each negotiating area for use by the negotiators.

The Committee of Ambassadors expected political direction and decisions with regard to this question.

ACP Secretariat

The Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors said that the Committee had expressed concern about the functioning of the Secretariat. The ACP Secretariat had a key role to perform in servicing the Council of Ministers and the Committee of Ambassadors. While being thankful to the Secretariat and understanding the constraints under which they worked, it was recognised at the same time that there was need at the top level for effective planning, control and organization of the Secretariat in order to ensure the implementation of the decision of the Council of Ministers and of the Committee of Ambassadors.

The Chairman since assuming office had been in constant touch with the Secretary General and the top-ranking officials of the Secretariat to try to assist them. He realised they were faced with serious problems and it was difficult to satisfy the aspirations of 63 States. A system ought to be devised to provide the ACP with ammunition to fight a difficult battle with one of the most powerful economic blocks.

The Chairmen of Sub-committee who had a direct sectoral responsibility for different items would be called upon to supplement the Chairman's Report in order to assist Council in giving directives which could assist in the implementation of the Lome Convention.

Internal Matters

The Chairman reported that the Committee of Ambassadors had completed work. On the conditions of service of the ACP General Secretariat staff and its conclusions and recommendations were being submitted to Council for consideration and adoption. He added that the financial implications were built into the draft budget for 1984. Work on the organizational chart was in satisfactory progress.

Council took note of the report by the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors and directed that, in their various interventions to supplement the aforementioned report, Chairmen of Sub-Committees should identify problems and other matters where Council was required to make decisions or give guidance to the Committee of Ambassadors.

Intra-ACP Cooperation

The Sub-Committee Chairman remained Council that the Intra-ACP Cooperation was of such great importance that Council had decided to inscribe a special item on this occasion on the agenda of each of its sessions. Because of special circumstances surrounding the examination of the budget and the preparation of the opening session of the negotiations, inscription of a special item had not been possible for the 32nd session.

In his report, the Chairman covered the six priority sectors identified in the Suva Declaration and Montego Bay Plan of Action. It was in accordance with these that:

- a series of seminars were being organised to articulate the politicien and strategies defined by Council;

- a directory of ACP universities and one on ACP Consultants were published and distributed;

- a new computer had been installed in the Secretariat to be eventually connected to terminal in order to assemble relevant trade and economic data.

The publication of Directory of ACP Chambers of Commerce was envisaged for 1984.

The most significant development since the last Council meeting was the meeting of the national Chambers of Commerce and other Economic Operators in Brussels from 25 to 29 July 1983 at which and hoc Committee was set up to establish modalities for the institution of a permanent machinery to advance the implementation of the Suva Declaration and the Montego Bay Plan of Action.

After examining the proposals of the ad hoc group, the meeting took the following decisions:

(a) the establishment of a loose type of organisation known as the Conference of the National Chambers of Commerce and economic operators, to review progress on the implementation of the relevant programmes of the Suva Declaration and the Montego Bay Plan of Action;

(b) a Steering Committee, (which temporary Headquarters in Nairobi) comprising the President, or Vice-President, the Rapporteur, and representatives of each of the region, was set up to service the Conference with the assistance as might be required from National or regional chambers of commerce, supplemented by the ACP Secretariat within the limits of its resources. It was further agreed to recommend an annual contribution of $100 by each Chamber of Commerce.

The Chairman observed that there had been encouraging significant progress in the activities of ACP Chambers of Commerce in addition to those of the established regional Chambers in West African and Caribbean regions. This enhanced the prospects for intra-ACP trade which was still insignificant in relation to global trade.

Council should authorise as a matter of urgency the examination of intra-ACP Trade, the establishment of a balance-sheet of trade at international levels, concerte proposal on how ACP trade could be improved. In this regard the following recommendations were made for consideration by Council:

(a) the establishment of a Trade Development Centre as a tool to develop trade among ACP countries and promote the flow of ACP Trade to EEC countries;

(b) ACP Trade operators to be associated to the negotiations of the successor agreement;

© as regards the institutions to be provided in the next Convention, arrangements should be made to permit exchange of views with trade and economic operators;

(d) a complete chapter on Trade Cooperation.

The Chairman asked Council to note the recommendations and mandate the Committee of Ambassadors to examine the relevant proposals with a view to submitting appropriate recommendations.

Conference on Intra-ACP Cooperation (Transfer of Technology and Technical Know-how) The Sub-Committee Chairman stressed that there was a need to support the statistical training programme for Africa from EDF. Other programmes were intended to provide for student fellowships, and training of trainees. A study had been undertaken to access needs for statisticians for the next ten years. There had been a joint approach by the ACP the ECA but the Community's final response was still awaited.

Council was invited to note this question and ask the Community to give a final response in order to enable the 1984-1988 programme to start in January 1984.

With regard to the negotiations for a successor arrangement the Intra-ACP sub-committee Chairman advised that Council endorse the view that prominence be given to intra-ACP cooperation in the utilization of instruments and resources to be provided in each sphere of ACP-EEC cooperation.

Council took note of the report and recommendations of the Chairman of the Intra-ACP Cooperation Sub-committee.

In view of the many recommendations in the report, the Committee of Ambassadors was mandated to study the document and report back to Council. Council further directed that the report be circulated to the Committee of Ambassadors.

Financial and Technical Cooperation

The Ambassador of Uganda, Chairman of the Financial and Technical Cooperation Sub-committee said that Article 108 Committee had made definite proposals for improvement in the implementation of financial cooperation. Comments by ACP States on the 1982 Report on this area of Cooperation should be formulated as soon as possible and sent to the ACP Secretariat for submission to the Committee of Ambassadors, the 108 Ministerial Committee and ultimately to Council ../..

The Sub-Committee Chairman observed that the current economic crisis had resulted in the dwindling of development aid and an aggravation of the crushing debt burden. In view of the inadequate resources there was urgent need to explore other possible sources of financing, such as access to capital markets through the ACP/EEC relationship. A supplementary financing source study had been prepared by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the study was being examined for report to the next Council meeting.

With regard to industrial complementary financing, it was overwhelmingly clear that no additional funds would be provided in the framework of the existing Convention. The best that could be done in the circumstance was to try to ensure that existing provisions were implemented as fully as possible.

The Sub-committee Chairman referred to the report produced by the Working Party set up by the Consultative Assembly and adopted at the Berlin meeting in September 1983. The report listed notably shortcomings in the implementation of the Convention in the field of Financial and Technical cooperation and made some novel recommendations which could be considered in the context of the negotiations.

The report on the CID, was under study and would in due course be transmitted to Council for consideration. After noting the report by the Chairman of the Sub-committee on Financial and Technical cooperation Council decided that the report should be circulated to the ACP States while awaiting the secretariat's comments on it.

Industrial Cooperation.

The Ambassador of Grenda, Chairman of the Industrial Cooperation Sub-committee said that this area of activity was covered on page 30 of the Report of the Committee of Ambassadors.

During the exchange of views which followed, lack of cooperation was emphasized. A case in point was the non-implementation of Article 69 of the Lome II Convention, despite the efforts of the ACP to convince their European counterparts. The Report of the Consultative Assembly on Industrial Cooperation had brought to light that the impact of the Convention in this particular area was meaningless. The attention of Council was drawn to the danger of embarking in

Manufacturing industries by ACP States, which increased their debt burden,.

SUGAR

The Acting Ministerial Spokesman on Sugar, H. E. Mr. R. INSANALLY of Guyana, reported on the deliberations of the meeting of the Sugar Ministerial group.

The Ministers of the ACP Sugar supplying States would wish to propose some amendment to the text of the paragraph in the concerning sugar for Council' approval. It was argued that it was necessary as the Sugar Protocol had its own life which was not directly affected by the renegotiations for a successor arrangement to the main Convention.

PRICE FOR SUGAR SUPPLIED BY ACP STATES TO THE EEC

he failure of the Community to settle the price for ACP sugar for the period 15 July 1983 - 30 June 1984 had caused serious difficulties for the supplying States. It was recalled that, as had occurred in previous years, effective discussions on the level of the price had to be delayed until the EEC had settled their own internal sugar prices, and as a result the negotiations did not take place until 23 June although the Protocol required that they should be completed by 1st May. The price increase offered by the EEC was 4%. This rate of the increase was directly linked to the increase in the EEC's own internal sugar prices and took no account whatever either of the rate of inflation experienced by the ACP sugar supplying States or of the cost of ocean freight which had to be borne by the ACP suppliers but not by Community producers.

Despite the provisions of the Protocol which referred to the negotiation of a guaranteed price taking into account all relevant economic factors, the EEC representatives showed no willingness wither to negotiate or to examine in depth the arguments adduced by the ACP. The ACP negotiators were therefore unable to accept the EEC's offer and a message was sent by the ACP Ministerial President (Minister Qionibaravi of Fiji) to the President of the EEC Council of Ministers. This message urged that the EEC Council should speedily review the situation in order to protect the interests of the ACP States. No formal reasons to this massage had yet been received.

In the light of this situation the Ministers of the sugar supplying states wished to request that the ACP Ministerial President, in his opening statement in Luxembourg, should make forceful representations on the essential need to achieve a favourable resolution of the price issue.

The delay was causing serious financial problems for the supplying states - the receipt of over 1.7 million pounds sterling of foreign exchange earnings had been delayed already - and it was intolerable that the EEC should use this as a lever in order to impose an unsatisfactory price settlement, the acceptance of which by the ACP States would seriously prejudice their negotiating position in the future.

It was therefore urged that a final effort to persuade the EEC to resolve the issue satisfactorily should be made in Luxemburg: not only in the ACP President's opening statement but also in personal contact at Co-President level and in other contacts during the session.

The ACP Ministers should also instruct their Ambassadors to prepare an exchange of letters with the Community which would reserve the full negotiating rights of the ACP for the future. The protection of the price in the long-term was just as important as was the level of the current settlement; and of course there was a close connection between both these matters.

Re-examination of the conditions for implementating the Protocol

No change to the text of the Protocol itself was proposed; and it was merely intended to arrive at agreed declarations by the EEC and by the ACP in respect of certain points of interpretation. Some proposed revisions to the wording of these declarations had been submitted to the EEC in July. The informal indications received from EEC officials at that time were to the effect that these revisions were unlikely to cause any difficulties for the EEC. However it now appeared that this was not the case and the present position was that the ACP's proposals were in the course of examination by a committee of EEC Member States.

Applications by Ivory Coast and by Zimbabwe

The ACP had continued to urge that the EEC should expedite their consideration of the Ivory Coast's request for accession to the Protocol and of Zimbabwe's claim for a fundamental revision of the terms of their accession to it. Both requests continued to receive the full support in principle of the other ACP sugar supplying states and should be pressed on the occasion of the ACP-EEC Council meetings in Luxembourg.

Discussions on sugar at the European Parliament in Strasbourg

and at the consultative Assembly in Berlin

The Ministers of the sugar supplying states had noted the successful outcome to the debates on resolutions concerning sugar at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and at the Consultative Assembly in Berlin. The text of the various resolutions would be available to Members of the Council.

Reallocations of agreed quantities under the Sugar Protocol

The Ministerial Group had reviewed recent discussions in the sugar sub-committee on the subject of reallocations in the light of the decisions reached at the ACP Ministerial meeting on sugar on 16 May 1983. The Ministers had felt that the implementation of this decision required additional detailed consideration by the ACP sugar sub-committee and remitted the matter back to them for further examination.

Trade Cooperation

The Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Trade Cooperation, the Ambassador of Togo said that the question of the evolution of ACP/EEC trade which had been entrusted to a Working Party as well as the question of supply of agricultural products be raised to the political level.

The evolution of ACP/EEC trade had been the subject of concern expressed by Council on two occasions. The Working Group which had been set up had drawn up a certain number of conclusions. However, there were difficulties in obtaining information from ACP countries and the insufficiency of data had prevented the preparation of dossiers.

With regard to surplus available agricultural products, Council had already been informed that technical arguments were exhausted. ACP interests were not being protected and it was essential that in this period of temporary difficulty ACP States should accede to products at preferential rate.

On the subject of enlargement of the EEC to Portugal and Spain, its possible implications for ACP trade had been object of a study which was handed to the Secretariat on 31 May 1982, as was indicated by the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors in his report.

The Chairman observed that cooperation between the ACP and the EEC should be redefined. Progressively ACP Trade with the EEC was being surpassed by more competitive tarde between the Community and other developing countries. It was becoming more and more difficult for the ACP to maintain their position on the EEC's markets.

The Community was reticent to deal with questions stemming up from the implementation of Lome II Convention and had already placed itself in an atmosphere of negotiations. It was desirable that the current Convention should not be played down by the exigencies of the negotiations for a successor agreement. Important questions like the problems of strawberries, weat bran and other commodities like Coffee were still unresolved. It was imperative that The Secretariat should be furnished with appropriate data in order to enable the ACP present efficiently their case to the Community. Council could take this opportunity to renew its requests to the ACP States to provide data to the Secretariat in order that clear and coherent policies could be formulated.

In the ensuring exchange of views, delegations expressed the view that it was difficult to accept that the Committee of Ambassadors was not in a position to take precise recommendations to improve the ACP position because of the difficulties in obtaining data. As the ACP embarked on negotiations, it was necessary to conceive special mechanism whereby trade could be recognised as an important factor of development and the maximum exploitation of potential for exports would be facilitated. Council should invite the Committee of Ambassadors to take steps to identify reasons for lack of growth of ACP trade and formulate special measures to be introduced in the new Convention.

With regard to access to available surplus agricultural products, it was argued that it constituted an essential component of food security. Council should give a mandate to the Committee of Ambassadors to examine the question in all its aspects and define a specific approach on to deal with those matters, before raising the debate to a political level which would give it a new dimension.

STABEX

The Ambassador of Sao Tomé and Principe, Chairman of the Subcommittee on STABEX, said that the importance of Stabex was acknowledged and this could not be portrayed in a clearer way than in the report of the Committee of Ambassadors. In so far as Sysmin was concerned, no progress had been achieved and the same determination was called for in the future negotiations.

The most important question, observed the Chairman, was whether procedures and methods in force so far should continue to be followed. Specifically some ACP States submitted their applications for transfers to the EEC without providing any information to the Secretariat and the Subcommittee on Stabex. This practice tended to render difficult the work of the Stabex and Sysmin subcommittees and the Secretariat.
In effect it opened the door to the Community to deal with the Stabex transfers exclusively on a bilatéral basis thus excluding the aforementioned bodies of the ACP Group from any follow-up action. The Subcommittee Chairman further deplored the unilateral manner in which the Community decided to carry out the 1982 transfers : this would be in 2 stages. The accepted applications would get 100% transfer but there was no indication of the date for the second transfer of 30% of the approved allocations. This was of great concern to the Committee of Ambassadors.

Attention was drawn to the question of method of calculation which had not been mentioned in the Report of the Chairman. The Stabex Subcommittee was equally dissatisfied with the Community's method of calculation of the Stabex transfers and the delay in disbursing them.
The arbitrariness and unfairness of the method of calculation of transfers as well as the unilateral manner in which the Community took decisions called for special attention. The matter was urgent enough to warrant the formulation of concrete proposals to the Council of Ministers.

During the exchange of views it came to light that the departure of the Stabex expert could well partly account for this situation. It was decided that the ACP States should be urged to provide relevant information to the ACP Secretariat and to the Subcommittee, that the Committee of Ambassadors should be called upon to bring to Council concrete proposals for the improvement of the functioning of the Stabex system.

Council further mandated its President to raise the Stabex issue with his counterpart in Luxembourg.

ITEM 9

PREPARATION FOR THE ACP/EEC MINISTERIAL MEETING FOR THE

FORMAL OPENING AND FOLLOW-UP ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE negotiations FOR A SUCCESSOR ARRANGEMENT TO THE LOME II

The President informed Council that at the Ministerial Bureau meeting earlier on in the morning, a small group was set up comprising the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors, the Ambassador of Mauritius and the Deputy Secretary General. This group was charged with the task of preparing an Aid-Mémoire highlighting the major issues calling for decisions by Council, in respect of the ACP position concerning its future relations with the EEC. Its conclusions were contained in document ACP/25/028/83. Discussions on item 9 would be based on this as well as the 2 additional agendas on items 8 and 9. (See Doc. ACP/25/016/83, ACP/25/015/83 attached).

Délibérations on item 9 were based on the following points: (Doc. ACP/25/015/83).

(I) Review of the programme of meetings in Luxembourg

This item was only for information. The Secretariat told Council that the Luxembourg authorities had decided to provide return transport for ACP delegates to Luxembourg and within, hotel accommodation for heads of ACP delegations as well as assisting in making necessary hotel bookings for other delegates.

(ii) Consideration of the draft agenda for the ACP/EEC Ministerial meeting for the opening of the negotiating session (Doc. ACP

With regard to the opening statements at the Luxembourg meeting, Council decided that there should be only one spokesman, its President. However, Should the need arise, the representatives of the three regions would be able to voice their views on the second day or during the Press Conference. This would be decided at a later stage.

Council further decided that the Ministerial Bureau should finalise the President's speech taking into account inputs from its délibérations.

(iii) Structure for negotiations

The Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors drew attention of Council to page 112 and Annex II and III of the ACP Memorandum which provided information regarding the structure for negotiations. Nine negotiates teams relying on technical support from the Secretariat were to negotiate on the mandate given by Council on the basis of the finalised ACP position.

The Chairman also informed Council that there was a proposal from the EEC to set up at Ambassadorial level a central steering Committee to keep an overview on the negotiations. The proposed committee, equally known as Contact Group, would be constituted on the EEC side by the Director General of D.G. VIII and 10 observers, one from each of the 10 Member States of the EEC.

Council was asked to take décision on this proposal and on the Committee of Ambassadors' recommendations for the nine negotiating teams.

After an exchange of views on the proposed structure, Council adopted it with some amendments. The negotiating areas (9) as approved by Council are as follows:

- integrated rural development, agriculture, food self-sufficiency and food security;

- trade, commodities and Stabex;

- development of mineral resources, energy and sysmin;

- industrial development, fisheries resources development, transfer of technology, tourism;

- financial and technical cooperation,

- customs cooperation and rules of origin;

- problems of the least developed, landlocked and island ACP States Transport and communication;

- Transport and communication;

- social conditions, research, training, ACP/EEC cultural cooperation, regional and Intra-ACP cooperation;

- institutional and legal matters.

A negotiating team headed by a spokesman and 2 alternates would negotiate for the ACP Group in each of these 9 major areas of negotiations.

Council was asked to decide on the composition of the ACP Side of the contact group whose job would be primarily to unblock stalemate situations, impasse in between ACP/EEC Ministerial session. Its role would be strictly limited to dealing with procedural matters.

Council finally decided that the EEC proposal was acceptable in principle. The ACP Contact Group at the level of the committee pf Ambassadors would therefore deal with procedur matters only and would coposed of 2 representatives from each of the 6 regions, the ACP Secretariat and the Chairman of the Committee of Ambassadors. Council's Bureau would constitute the ACP Ministerial Contact Group.

(IV) Choice of Negotiators

Council was informed that for the purpose of negotiations, areas were given to each region for leading the negotiations at the level of the Committee of Ambassadors. The procedure adopted in the allocation of negotiating areas to regions did not conform with the pattern of existing institutional structures within the Committee of Ambassadors.

On the basis of the above, Council directed the Committee of Ambassadors to proceed on to finalise the choice of ACP negotiators.

ITEM 8

CONSIDERATION OF THE DRAFT MEMORANDUM ON THE POSITION OF THE ACP GROUP IN ITS FUTURE RELATIONS WITH THE EEC (DOC. ACP/0023/83 NEG REV.2 AND ACP/25/012/83

Council deliberated on this issue on the basis of the supplementary document on this item - Doc. ACP/25/016/83.

(I) Examination of the objectives and fundamental principles for continued relations with the Community.

OBJECTIVES

The President drew the attention of Council to Section IV of the memorandum ACP/0023/ NEG (Rev.2) dealing with the objectives which the ACP should seek to achieve through the next Convention.

During the considération of these objectives, Council focussed particular attention on objective 4, expressing concern that it might be used as a pretext.

By the Community for engaging in a debate on policy dialogue. Given its importance, Council decided to reclassify it as objective 1 and reword it as follows:

"The cultivation of treater mutual understanding and the display of greater solidarity between the governments and peoples of the European Communities and those of the ACP States". The other objectives should be renumbered accordingly.

Council also stressed the fact that the overall objective of the ACP should be to reduce the Group's economic, social and cultural dependency and to ensure full, effective, total and permanent sovereignty of the ACP States over their natural resources.

PRINCIPLES

With regard to the principles, Council remarked that the Community should clearly indicate the criteria used in the distribution of financial resources provided for the Convention and this be made known to the ACP States.

After this preliminary remark, Council proceeded on to amend the objectives as follows:

PRINCIPLE 2:

"The Convention must respect the inherent and inalienable right of all countries to determine their own policies and programmes in respect of their social and economic development and in their relations with other States. As such it should find its philosophical basis in the developmental strategies, ideologies and approaches of the ACP States and their regions and should reflect their socio-cultural values, preferences and priorities. In this regard, the activities to be accorded the highest priority would be the choice of the particular ACP States or region alone".

PRINCIPLE 3

(I) in line 2 and 'at least the same benefits' after the words "ACP States'.

(ii) in line 4 and 'States' after ACP.

(iii) at the end of the paragraph to add 'or an increase in the number of ACP States' and delete 'any other Community action'.

PRINCIPLE 6

(I in line 5, to replace the word 'help' by 'not inhibit'

(ii) at the end of the paragraph to add 'within the same geographical region'.

PRINCIPLE 8:

Line 3 delete 'Member states of the' and after 'Community and' replace 'that' by 'those'.

PRINCIPLE 9

Line 3: After 'meet' delete 'the challenges foreseen' and insert 'foreseeable and any other new challenges....'

Council adopted the objectives and fundamental principles with its amendments as reflected above. It also directed that the text should be harmonized in the two languages.

(ii) Consideration of the major activity areas identified in the Memorandum.

Council's deliberations on this point of item 8 were based on the document produced by it's Bureau's Working Group: "specific points on ACP Position in respect of Future ACP/EEC relations calling for decision by Council " (Doc. ACP/0029//83. The meeting agreed that an inter-sectorial approach should be adopted in dealing with these major activity areas identified in the ACP Memorandum. The points reflected hereunder retained Council's attention during the exchange of views on the respective major areas of cooperation.

Agricultural Cooperation, integrated rural development, food self-sufficiency and food security

The meeting noted that in the memorandum the chapter on agriculture was not well spelt out. It was stated that the concept of food security, which went beyond that of food self-sufficiency,

Should be introduced in the memorandum to render the Group's case more plausible. Belief was expressed that, it was in increasing the farmers' productivity that any meaningful progress could be achieved in the field of agricultural and food production.

To this end, the following measures were notably recommended for inclusion in the memorandum:

- diversification of agricultural production which should be linked to the industrial sector;

- elaboration of policies for production, storage, processing, marketing and consumption of agricultural products;

- research development and the dissemination of the fruits of this research;

- sufficient stress on the provision of agricultural imputs (farm implements, fertilizers, etc) to ensure a major technological break-through in agricultural production;

- devising of a system which would ensure that imputs are available at regular flow and at reasonable prices;

- the creation of a financial mechanism to assist in implementing technical training in tropical agriculture;

- cooperation in the rehabilitation of existing programmes; and

- the control of water supply or making of efforts to regularize rainfall in order to halt desert advance and roll it back.

While recognising food aid as an element of assistance at times of stress, Council emphasized that it should not be the focus of the chapter on Agricultural Cooperation and this aid should not be used as political weapons.

The meeting advised that the role of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development should be expanded and reinforced so as to face the challenges of the successor arrangements in the field of agricultural development and food security.

TRADE

The meeting recognised the importance of trade both in the economics of the ACP States and in the ACP/EEC relations. Stabex, it was stressed, formed the core of the agreement in this area of cooperation.

The deterioration of ACP Trade with the EEC was central in the discussions and the participants made proposals with a view to redress the unfavourable ACP trade balance with the Community:

(I) The ACP Group should negotiate for a minimum market share, in the EEC markets, for their products and for remunerative guaranteed prices for these products.

(ii) To combat the consistent currency fluctuations that have serious repercussions on the repayment of stabex resources, a mechanism should be devised for price indexation.

(iii) Exports of ACP States should be, as far as possible, an extension of those states' domestic production (the domestic needs ought to be satisfied first). Similarly, import should be limited, as much as possible, to non available products.

(iv) The Community should adopt homogeneous trade terms and policies with regard to all ACP States and should show consistency in ACP/EEC solidarity in trade cooperation.

(v) The ACP states should avide inviting the EEC to dump the former's surplus products in ACP markets, especially those products which are produced locally by ACP States. Instead EEC should assist in exporting such products from these states to other ACP States. This would assist in promoting intra-ACP cooperation in the field of trade.

(vi) The creation of an ACP Trade Promotion Board or standing Committee to resolve problems of trade, for instance the question of tariff and non tariff barriers. This would compensate for the non representation of the ACP Group in the international commerce and financial markets.

(vii) The provision of a protocol type arrangement for certain commodities, particularly those falling under the Community's common Agricultural Policy, C. A. P.

STABEX

Council made general remarks on stabex before it proceeded to an in-depth systematic analysis of the scheme. The meeting noted that stabex was needed because there were no remunerative prices for the ACP products and no mechanism for reexamining rejected demands. The result of this was the lengthening list of products to be covered. If these prices existed stabex would not have been needed. The meeting unanimously reiterated the need to increase the resources and review the method of calculation of transfers.

However, it was pointed out that if the stabex principle was accepted in the context it was being applied, the ACP states ran the risk of being confined to the economically retrogressive role of suppliers of raw materials to the European Community, thus hindering any substantial progress in overall development and progress. This raised the question of what approach to adopt regarding stabex: extensive or restrictive. The former consists in increasing stabex resources to cover a wide range of products, and the latter calls for increase in resource allocation, and a limited coverage. While the meeting die not explicitly and resolutely indicate a choice between these two options, it nonetheless agreed on an integrated approach towards stabex: production, processing and marketing of products.

Council notably made the following recommendations concerning a future stabex scheme:

(I) ACP States should be free to use the stabex resources in accordance with their needs and priorities. The declaration on the use of the resources should be suppressed.

(ii) The appreciation of the importance of a product for eligibility chalet not be purely mathematical, thus the need to reduce the threshold of 6% which tends to discourage diversification of ACP States' agriculture. In this regard it was proposed that if any country was dependent on the production of one cash crop, that product should be included in the stabex list.

The meeting called for a relaxation of the criteria for eligibility.

(iii) The reference period should be reduced to one year as the method based on assessment on the past 4 years is not practical.

(iv) In the memorandum reference should be made to the introduction of export credit finance, and an ACP clearing Union, the latter to be funded from a separate institution or EDF.

(v) There should be a special provision in the future stabex mechanism for those ACP countries that are heavily dependent on tourism. (The meeting was informed that the Caribbean region was carrying out a study on tourism in view of the future ACP/EEC relations).

Finally the meeting proposed beef and sisal to be added to the list covered by Stabex.

FISHERIES

Council criticized the rules of origin and called for their review and relaxation. It also noted the existence of technical barriers, which should equally be removed. The meeting proposed the creation of a special protocol on fisheries.

The participants evoked the illicit fishing being carried out in ACP waters and considered that the ACP States should be equipped to face this piratical activity in their waters. To this end, it was advised that protection against illicit fishing be included in the Memorandum.

MINERAL, RESOURCES DEVELOPED

Under this item, the meeting essentially discussed about sysmin, which it considered closely linked with stabex. Before proceeding on to make proposals and recommendations for a future sysmin scheme,; the meeting observed that the Community need guarantee for their investments in order to engage in a meaningful cooperation in this area with the ACP States.

After making these preliminary remarks, delegates unanimously called for flexibility in intervention of the sysmin scheme and the enlargement of this intervention. It was also said that the scheme needed restructuring to face the increasing demands and new challenges of the changing economic environment in ACP States.

Council further made the following recommendations and proposals:

(I) The EEC should accord priority treatment within the framework of sysmin to ACP States over other countries which did not have any special agreements with it.

(ii) The resources should be increased and the concept of equality be effectively applied in the administration of these resources.

(iii) The principle of mineral dependent states should be reviewed.

(iv) The scheme should provide for local processing of mineral products..

(v) There should be resources for down-stream mining and certain products which were not commercially viable.

The meeting proposed the inclusion of phosphates, asbestos, bauxite and aluminium in the list of sysmin products.

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Given the importance of Industrial Development, Council directed that this chapter should come immediately after the one on Agricultural Development. The meeting further instructed that the case of industrialisation should be more forcefully argued out in the Memorandum and there should be a clear link with Agriculture and Trade as these were three crucial sectors of the ACP economies. To this end it was recommended that a Centre for coordinating the activities of these three sectors be created.

The meeting referred to the report of the findings of the Joint Working Party of the Consultative Assembly on this subject. After acknowledging the importance of the report and its relevance to future relations, Council requested that it be circulated to all ACP Missions.

With regard to the substance of this chapter, the participants observed that in the future arrangement the ACP Group should negotiate for support for an appropriate integrated technology based on the use of available local resources and imputs, thus reducing the recourse to imputs from outside. A long term sustenance of industrial development would depend on the use of these local resources and not on grants and aid. Though at this young stage of their development ACP industries required some measure of protection as they could not effectively face competition from outside, the ACP states should face certain potent realities in production:

- quality and price of industrial products had to be satisfactory to appeal to the buyer;

- integration of markets at local and regional levels, and the abolition of barriers between the ACP States and regions;

- the processing, in ACP States, of same ACP new materials that enter the EEC as commodities

The meeting regretfully remarked that there was a decline in the allocation of EDF to the industrial sector and the EEC contributed to small and medium sized ACP industries which did not pose a threat to existing industries in EEC Member States. This state of affairs called for urgent and far-reaching measures, of which the following were notably mentioned:

(I) the increase of the value added to ACP industrial products,

(ii) the creation of an industrial development fund geared entirely to wards the promotion of industrial development in ACP countries, and

(iii) great flexibility in the use of trade promotion funds.

FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

One of the immediate questions that Council had to face during its deliberations on this area of cooperation was that of the approach to be adopted for the negotiations: should the Group negotiate the financial package right at the start of the negotiations so as to determine their conduct or should this intervene at a later stage. Though this matter was evoked,

It was more or less an interrogation rather than an assertion. Broadly speaking Council seemed to prefer shelving negotiating for the volume of the financial aid until the negotiations set on a fairly discernible course.

With regard to the strategy to be adopted at the negotiating table, it was advise that the ACP should endeavour to avoid making any drama around the question of aid as this would create the impression that it was the springboard of ACP development whereas in reality aid was a supportive measure to the Group's efforts for development. Likewise the Group should strive to ensure the improvement of the implementation of provisions of Financial and Technical Cooperation. In so doing the Group would avoid running the risk of financing the recovery of the industrialised countries.

The delegates examined the chapter on Financial and Technical Cooperation and suggested that the whole international environment should be brought to sharper focus and programme assistance had to be more forcefully spelt out in the Memorandum. The participants criticised the Financial and Technical Cooperation chapter in the present Convention noting that it entailed cumbersome procedures which resulted into belated approvals of resources and their disbursement. When these resources were finally disbursed, they fell well below the initial value as much of the latter got swallowed up by monetary erosion and inflation. It was also noted that the criteria for allocating EDF resources were not explicit enough. The meeting believed the Convention should be an instrument for ensuring structural transformation of ACP economies and as such the determination of the volume of financial aid should take into account notably:

- population;

- declining commodity prices and high import rates,

- currency erosion and inflation,

- calculation of transfer of resources.

The following criteria were also proposed for the allocation of funds:

- size of population,

- level of economic development,

- geographical and non-geographical considerations.

In addition to the above it was recommended that a certain percentage of the resources be given in the form of grant (60%) and another (40%) in the form of a loan at highly concessionary rates. Council also considered that there should be a mechanism for the transfer of resources and the funds should be jointly managed. The ACP Group should participate in drawing up financial regulations.

Finally Council recommended the creation of funds for mineral resources development and trade promotion. Like with other funds, greater flexibility in EDF disbursement and use was called for.

INTRA-ACP COOPERATION

Council emphasized the importance of Intra-ACP cooperation not only within the framework of the Convention but more so within the context of the Third World and more specifically Sounth-South dialogue. Doubt were expressed as to the possibility of spelling out this cooperation within the framework of a Convention. Finally, Council decided that support should be sought for Intra-ACP cooperation within the context of future/ACP/EEC relations:

(I) The ACP Group should clearly spell out the links that should exist between the ACP EEC and within ACP States themselves,

(ii) The areas to be covered in the next agreement should be identified,

(iii) EDF resources be mobilised to promote intra-ACP economic integration, particularly between ACP countries within the same geographical regions, and also to support regional projects,

(iv) Special attention should be paid to the problem of training in order to progressively set up the infrastructure of Intra-ACP cooperation.

LEAST DEVELOPED, LANDLOCKED AND ISLAND COUNTRIES (LDLIC)

The meeting noted that in the Memorandum groups of countries having varying income per capita had been flopped together under the above heading. This would create the risk of disparity in the preoccupation of the body charged with monitoring closely whatever provisions would be laid down, as was the case with the work of the current sub-committee members.

The countries in question should be placed in a correct perspective determined by the geographical conditioning. There would be need for a specific framework for the implementation of their programmes.

The participants agreed broadly that the problem of LDLCS should be treated in a pragmatic way since the problems, both historical and geographical, are real. Council noted there were mitigated reactions from the EEC to the provisions of Lome II and this was due mainly to lack of political will on the part of the Europeans to match words with concrete action. Similary in international forums there was a lot of sympathy in speech for LDLIC but little in deeds. The situation called for a radical change in attitude and a clear démonstration of political will.

CONCLUSION

After the exchange of views on future relations with the EEC and on the Memorandum, Council directed that the latter be revised as soon as possible taking into account observations and remarks from ACP capitals and the debate that had taken place.

6. Proposals for the review of the Conditions of service for the ACP General Secretariat Staff (Doc. ACP/40/067/83/, ACP/40/069/83)

In his presentation of the proposals for the review of the conditions of service for the ACP General Secretariat staff, the Chairman of the Establishment and Finance Sub-committee recalled that Council had given, on several occasions, mandate to the Committee of Ambassadors to examine the aforemention question. In 1978 an interim measure was taken in a bid to redress the situation with regard to the conditions of the staff of the Secretariat. The report he had the honour to present to Council was elaborated on the basis of the recommendations submitted by the Secretariat and by certain sections of the latter on their specific conditions.

Before inviting Council to examine the recommendations of the Committee, the Chairman of the Establishment and Finance Sub-committee told Council that there were issues about which the

Staff felt strongly. On the request of the Committee of Ambassadors, the Secretariat worked out statistics based on an indexation. However, there were areas which needed to be finalised and the Committee of Ambassadors was still working on them. The Sub-committee Chairman urged that something be done at the session as the matter had been drugging on for long.

The Secretary General expressed appreciation for the work done by the Committee of Ambassadors, but he added that the recommendations did not wholly satisfy the staff of the Secretariat.

After a page by page examination of the recommendations, Council adopted them, bearing in mind the need to review occasionally the conditions of service of the Secretariat staff.

With regard to what was considered anomalies, the Committee was mandated to look into the question of allowances for the personnel of category C and the salary gap between the chiefs of Division and Experts.

Consequently, the Committee of Ambassadors made the following recommendation with regard to the latter anomaly, which was accepted by Council: Doc. ACP/40/067/83 page 4, paragraph 8,3::

- "that the starting salary of the Chiefs of Division should be increased to 85,000 FB per month".

Council equally amended paragraphs 5.3 and 7.3 on page 3 of the same document as follows:

5.3 - "that domestic allowance for the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General be increased by 33.57%;

7.3 - "that annual indexation approved by the Belgian Authorities should be applied automatically to the allowance paid to each officer on the anniversary of his/her lease agreement".

7. Consideration of the 1984 Budget for the ACP General Secretariat and other relevant documents:

(a) Audit reports from 1976 to 1981 (Doc. ACP/4125/82)

In his introductory remarks the Chairman of the Establishment and Finance

Sub-committee told the meeting that the Committee of Ambassadors had examined the audit report and asked certain questions which required another report. When contacted on this matter, the auditors asked for payment for the new assignment. Given the amounts involved, the Committee of Ambassadors judged it prudent to limit itself to considering the 1982 and 1983 reports.

The reports were deficient as they merely gave a bare account of the financial operations, following the pattern of the account. Because of this deficiency, the Committee of Ambassadors was recommending that Council take note of the reports and request that in future audit reports should be on the management of the budget and not on the accounts as such.

The 1962 audit reports were not available because during the adoption of the 1983 budget there were no provisions set for payment of the auditors. The Committee was exploring venues for having the auditing done without incurring much expenses. A request made to an ACP state for the provisions of auditors, to be jointly remunerated by the country providing them and the Committee of Ambassadors was being followed up, but the Committee had not pronounced itself on the financial burden.

Council noted that the core of the issue was the competence of the auditors and advised that the Committee of Ambassadors should consider the possibility of changing auditors. Council further accepted the recommendations of the Committee of Ambassadors and noted the audit reports for the accounts of the ACP General Secretariat from 1976 to 1981. In so doing the Council instructed the Committee of Ambassadors to secure the services of competent auditors (ACP) to audit the accounts of the Secretariat for 1982 and after.

(7b) The Secretary General's report on the management of the 1981 and 1982 budget

(Docs. ACP/4124/82, ACP/41/012/83, ACP/41/018/83, ACP/41/019/83 Rev. 1 and ACP/41/021/83)

Firstly, the Secretary General presented his report explaining how circumstances compelled him to overspend under some sub-heads but also how he under-spent in some, thus sticking a balance.

Intervening in the second place the Chairman of the Sub-committee on Establishment and Finance, speaking on behalf of the Committee of Ambassadors, said that the latter noted deficiencies in the Secretary-General's report as stated in document ACP/4/021/83 and considered that it was not a management report. Consequently the Committee requested that in future the said report should be a real management report dressing itself to the tasks spelt out in "Comments by the Committee of Ambassadors on the Secretary General's Management Report on the 1982 Budget (Doc. ACP/41/021/83)".

In the course of the discussions that followed the Council of Ministers expressed the desire to see the Secretariat further reinforced with an internal auditing service. Council also called for greater cooperation between the Establishment and Finance Sub-committee and the Secretary General.

With regard to overspending, Council instructed that in future the Secretary General should seek the authorisation of the Committee of Ambassadors before engaging such expenses. Finally Council noted the Secretary General's report on the management of the 1981 and 1982 budgets after remarking that it was unsatisfactory.

(7c) The Secretary General's interim report on the management of the 1983 budget (Doc. ACP/41/020/83) and the quarterly report of the Financial Controller on the implementation of the 1983 budget of the ACP Secretariat from January to March 1983 (Doc. ACP/41//008/83)

The Council of Ministers referred the above documents to the Committee of Ambassadors for consideration.

(7d) 1984 budget for the General Secretariat (Doc. ACP/41/017/83 Rev.3)

The 1984 budget for ACP General Secretariat was presented by the Chairman of the Establishment and Finance Sub-committee. In his preliminary remarks the sub-committee chairman notably evoked the following points:

- The documents featuring in item 7 were statutory requirements necessary for the considération of the budget.

- The Committee of Ambassadors had made a request for a statement on the reserve fund and on the state of contributions as part of the accompanying document documentation needed for the approval of the budget. A similar request was made for the list of assets.

- The financial controller was appointed towards the end of the 1982 and when he arrived he was busy with the preparation of the 1983 budget. As a result he was not able to prepare a full report on the 1983 financial year, only an interim report was produced. The Sub-committee Chairman stated that he did not clearly understand that theat report should accompany the 1984 budget.

In his thinking, the Sub-committee Chairman believed that

- The management of past years' budgets should not tie down the consideration of the 1984 budget.

- The negotiations entailed increased activity calling for more resources for the Secretariat. The latter ought to be given the tools to effectively service the Group, though it was understood that the Group was facing a difficult economic situation.

A new organigramme for the Secretariat was passed over to the Committee of Ambassadors for consideration by the Establishment and Finance Sub-committee and the financial implications were not built into the 1984 budget.

- With the adoption of the new conditions of service for the staff of the General Secretariat the Sub-committee recommended an en masse adoption of the budget for 1984. Short of a blanket approval, the Sub-committee Chairman recommended a chapter by chapter examination commencing from page 5A of the budget document.

Council expressed concern about the non availability of some accompanying documents to the budget and the unsatisfactory management of previous budget as revealed in the comments of the Committee of Ambassadors. With regard to the budget itself Council noted some deficiencies in its presentation. It was pointed out that not all incomes of 1984 had been incorporated on the same page: In future total income should be shown on the same page. Likewise for the neatness of presentation total arrears should appear on the same page and not dispersed in the budget. Both arrears and income should constitute each an item in the budget.

Council approved the 1984 budget for the ACP Secretariat (Doc. ACP/41/017/83 Rev.3) after making the observations as summarized above. Council, firmly directed that in future all documents statutorily required to accompany the budget should be made available for the consideration of the latter.

(7c) Measures to be taken for payment of arrears and current contributions

This point was added to the agenda as matters arising from the consideration of the 1984 budget and accompanying documents. Council noted that though the situation with regard to the above had considerably improved concret steps should be taken to urge states to pay their arrears and current contribution as soon as possible. It was recalled that President of Council had a specific responsibility in that regard and as such should make the necessary moves to encourage states to resolve the situation. It was recommended that heads of delegations should make a plea to their respective governments for a rapid solution.

Some delegations indicated that their countries had got their contributions ready but they were in national currencies. The Central Banks, in the face of world economic difficulties, had established priorities and an appeal from the Group at a high level might illustrate the urgency of the matter.

10. The situation Southern Africa (Doc. ACP/25/008/83/ Sec)

After the presentation of the document cited above by the Secretary General, the meeting had a discussion on the situation in Southern Africa during which the following main points were evoked:

- the sister states of Lesotho and the People's Republic of Angola were suffering from the same criminal acts perpetrated by racist South Africa. In that regard it was necessary to note that there was a risk that the cycle of dangerous violence would continue as long as the racist regime of Apartheid South Africa survived.

- South Africa used effective diplomatic and propaganda means to influence international opinion.

- It was noted that Western Europe seemed to be sensitive to the /American position. There was wisdom in accepting the UN resolution on the Namibian question and in

rejecting any linkage of that country's independence with the presence of Cuban troops un Angola.

Finally, Council adopted a resolution with regard to the deteriorating situation in Southern Africa as a result of the acts of agression and harassment committed by the racist regime of South Africa against the independent sovereign states in the region. The resolution equally condemned the visit made to South Angola in July 1983 by 4 Members of the European Parliament who were invited there as Members of the European Parliament by the Angolan rebel groups.

11. Election of the successor Ministerial Bureau: (Doc. ACP/549/79 Rev.6)

The following were elected to represent their region in the new Ministerial Bureau:

Central Africa - Cameroon

East Africa - Madagascar

Southern Africa - Lesotho

West Africa - Nigeria

Caribbean To be announced latter

Pacific - Tonga

12. Dates and venue for the next meetings of:

- the ACP Council of Ministers

- the ACP/EEC Council of Ministers

With regard to the next ordinary sessions of the Councils of ACP and ACP/EEC Ministers, Council was informed that the government of Fiji had proposed that the above meetings be held in that country from 30th April to 4th May 1984. Council took note of the proposed dates and venue.

With respect to the possibility of holding any extraordinary Ministerial meeting in the framework of the negotiations prior to the Fiji session. Council felt it was premature to envisage such a meeting.

Council was of the view that much would depend on the rate of regress of the negotiations. It consequently agreed not to take any decision as yet on the matter.

13. Exchange of views on the arrangements for the signing ceremony of the successor Convention to Lome II

Given the other urgent matters relating to the negotiations, Council decided to defer this matter to a later session and instructed that it figure on the agenda of the following ordinary Council meeting for a final decision. Meanwhile consultations should continue in order to facilitate arriving at a solution whenever the matter came up for consideration.

14. Visit to Council by the President Samora machel of Mozambique

The President of People's Republic of Mozambique, H. E. Mr. Samora MACHEL paid a visit to the ACP Ministers on the second day of session.

After a brief welcome address by the ACP President, the visiting Head of State, in his statement to Council, drew the Ministers' attention to the gravity of the situation in Southern Africa as a result of the constant acts of agression and destabilization perpetuated by the South African racist regime against the countries of the region. He also referred to his country and to its desire to accede to the Georgetown Agreement and to the Lome Convention.

He finally urged the ACP Group to stay united during the negotiations and wished the Ministers success in the defence of ACP interests.

On behalf of Council, Hon. Mrs Amelia WARD, Liberia's Deputy Minister of Planning, expressed to President MACHEL the ACP Group's deepest thanks and appreciation for his visit.

15 Examination and adoption of the resolutions and decisions of the 32d Session of the Council of ACP Ministers

Council continued its deliberations on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th October in Luxembourg after the official opening ceremony of the negotiations, and finally on Saturday 8th October in Brussels.

Thursday 6th October (Luxembourg)

Council met immediately after the end of the opening ceremony.

(a) TO GET FROM MOST OF THE ACP regions the nominations * for the Ministerial Bureau which wold take office from 1st February to 31st July 1984;

(b) to examine, make amendments where necessary, and adopt some of the decisions and resolutions prepared by the Secretariat. On this occasion, Council after adopting the relevant decision, formally welcomed to the ACP Group

St. Christopher and Nevis represented at the meeting by Hon. Simeon DANIEL, Premier of Nevis and Federal Minister of Finance.

Friday, 7th October (Luxembourg)

- Before the resumption of the ACP/EEC Council :

The ACP Council met briefly to consider the opportunity of reacting to the statements made by the EEC President and by Commissioner Pisani.

After an exchange of views, Council considered it more appropriate to give the Ministers and the Secretariat more time to study the EEC statements before making any observations on them. Council consequently agreed not to react to the two statements that day.

With regard to the practical measures for the start of the negotiations, Council asked the Secretariat to speed up the preparation of the various technical dossiers. The joint discussions, in Council's view, could start in Brussels about a fortnight after the Luxembourg session.

After the ACP/EEC Council:

After the joint Council session, Council met again to discuss the question relating to the structures for the negotiations at ACP Ministers' level. Council cold not reach a consensus on the matter and therefore mandated the ministerial Bureau to study the problem and submit recommendations to the closing session of the ACP Council scheduled for the following morning, Saturday 8th October, in Brussels.

Saturday, 8th October (ACP House, Brussels)

Council, first, examined and adopted the two draft resolutions (on Stabex and on the Negotiations for a successor arrangement to the Second Convention) which it had asked the Secretariat to improve. Council directed that the resolutions on Agricultural and integrated rural development and on Customs Cooperation be reviewed by the Secretariat and the Committee of Ambassadors and be submitted to the next Council of ACP ministers.

Council next considered its Bureau's recommendations on the ACP structures for the negotiations (Doc. ACP/0030/83/ NEG). These recommendations deal with the structures both at ministerial and at ambassadorial level.

Finally, Council adopted the Bureau's recommendations with some amendments and agreed that they should, together with the resolution on the negotiations, be included on the list of decisions*⁽¹⁾ of the 32nd Council of ACP Ministers.

16. Any other business

No question was raised under this item. The meeting was consequently brought to a close after the President had thanked the delegates for their contribution and cooperation.

1. The complete list of decisions and resolutions adopted by Council is attached.