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Statement by Mrs Veniece Pottinger-Scott, ASG of the ACP Group at the ECDPM Seminar on: Mr. Chairman, Members of the Board of the ECPDM, Distinguished Delegates, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen , I am greatly honoured by the invitation to participate at this seminar marking the twentieth anniversary of the ECPDM and by the opportunity to discuss with you some issues that are of critical importance to the development cooperation between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States – the ACP Group as manifested in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. Permit me to express my utmost gratitude and congratulations to the Leaders of the ECPDM for their stewardship in fostering dialogue on the EU’s external development policy and for providing valuable technical inputs into this dialogue. The focus of today’s gathering – “The Cotonou Partnership Agreement: What Role in a Changing World?” – is of great interest and importance to the ACP Group. Being party to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the ACP Group and its Secretariat welcomes periodic dialogue on the fundamentals of the ACP-EU Partnership. Mr. Chairman, I was asked to speak on three aspects namely: (a) the innovative contribution of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, (b) selected areas where the implementation of the CPA could be improved, and (c) the continuing relevance of the CPA in an evolving development cooperation strategy. Allow me, therefore, to focus my statement on these three subjects. INNOVATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF THECOTONOU PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTMr. Chairman, As you are aware, the development cooperation between the European Union and the ACP Group as currently manifested in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement is the largest North-South Partnership. The first innovative contribution of the CPA is its long-term nature. Twenty years of uninterrupted commitment is a partnership that is not only desirous to address the development challenges of the ACP States but provides a demonstrable leadership to the international community on the scope of new generation of partnerships. The second innovative contribution is the enhanced focus on addressing the achievement of the MDG package in the ACP countries. The CPA brought in the principle of concentration of development aid effort to sectors relevant to the achievement of the MDGs. Thus the twenty-year uninterrupted development effort in such sectors and realization of the scaled-up development aid effort should to make a significant difference. The third innovative contribution of the CPA is the multi-stakeholder participation in the development effort. This underlies the principle and objective of promoting greater ownership of the development effort in respective countries. Again, a twenty-year uninterrupted effort in this area should help build a stronger foundation. The fourth innovative contribution of CPA is the targeting of enhancing the integration of the ACP economies into the global economy. If appropriate measures to achieve this goal are properly put in place and implemented for an interrupted period of twenty years this should make a world of difference for the ACP economies. The fifth innovative contribution of the CPA is the introduction of political dialogue as the third pillar of the ACP-EU partnership along with development aid and trade cooperation. If political dialogue is pursued consistently as an avenue of fostering sustainable development and NOT a new generation of conditionality, again the twenty-year effort would make a valuable contribution to shaping the outcomes of the partnership. Political dialogue provides an important avenue for mobilizing public opinion and for ensuring political commitment to the agreed elements of the Partnership. Mr. Chairman, I am confident that our dialogue of today and tomorrow will focus on the details of these and other innovative contributions of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. Let me now turn to the second subject of my statement, namely: SELECTED AREAS WHERE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CPA COULD BE IMPROVED On this subject, Mr. Chairman, I want to suggest that implementation of the CPA could be improved in the following two main areas. I am also confident that our meeting will have the opportunity to discuss the other issues. The first is the delivery of development aid. In the past three years we have witnessed tremendous improvement in the delivery of the Community aid under the EDF following a long period of protracted poor performance. Opportunities for increasing delivery of Community aid would include greater use of general budget support modality for the national and regional indicative programmes, and contribution agreements for the rest of the aid effort. Paralleled by a significant cut-down on the web of rules and procedures, de-linking political conditionalities from these aid modalities, and strengthening requisite capacities on both sides would significantly improve the delivery and effectiveness of the Community development aid. The second area is the configuration of the trade cooperation in the context of the EPAs currently under negotiations. The EPAs should provide the opportunity to effectively address the MDG 1, that is, capacity to produce in order to raise incomes well above the one-dollar per day. That would be one of the fundamental means of attaining the noble objective of integrating the ACP economies into the global economy. Mr. Chairman, Let me at this stage say a few words on the third subject that I was asked to speak on, that is, THE CONTINUING RELEVANCE OF THE CPA IN AN EVOLVING EU’S DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION STRATEGY On this subject let me inform the meeting that the ACP Group has been concerned by the coherence and implications of the European Union’s redefinition of its development cooperation strategies with the ACP Group of States. We are all aware that in pursuit of redefining its development cooperation, the EU has developed separate cooperation strategies for Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific and South Africa. It is quite evident that the EU Strategy for three ACP Regional blocks and South Africa are Cotonou-Plus, both in coverage and content of cooperation. Let me also assure you, distinguished delegates, that the ACP Group fully supports the initiatives of the European Union to sharpen its development cooperation including its effort to prioritize Africa’s development. Having said that, it should be clearly understood that the coherence principles with respect to the continuity of the ACP-EU cooperation under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement are rather weak in the proposed regional pacts for Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and South Africa. Cross-referencing or collective strategy on the pillars common to all ACP States are missing in these strategy documents. The common pillars should include, inter alia, the approaches to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, the measures to address the environmental challenges, the measures to address capacities to produce and trade under the EPAs, and the measures to enhance political dialogue in many areas. Therefore, as discussed and agreed by the various organs of the ACP Group, the following has been emphasised. First, the three regional strategies and the one for South Africa should aim at strengthening the key pillars of the ACP-EU Partnership as delineated in the CPA. Second, the coherence principles with respect to the continuity of the ACP-EU cooperation under the CPA should be adhered to in the course of implementation of these regional strategies. Third, in view of the EU argument that these regional strategies are premised on the regional integration frameworks as axis for the wider economic integration, the Group emphasizes that implementation of these strategies should therefore strengthen and not undermine the regional integration initiatives in the ACP Group. Fourth, the Group maintains that though it encourages the build-up of parallel partnerships as a means of helping countries and regions to better position themselves in the global economic space, it reiterates that the EU should be mindful that these regional development initiatives are not advanced at a great cost of degrading the largest North-South Partnership. In this regard, the Group has urged the EU that the spirit of the Cotonou partnership should be strengthened in these new regional development initiatives. Mr. Chairman, Distinguished delegates , Allow me to conclude by again thanking the organizers of this gathering for giving me the opportunity to share with you our views on the subject of the seminar. I thank you for your kind attention .
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