| 10th ACP Parliamentary Assembly – Kigali Friday, November 16, 2007 The ACP Parliamentary Assembly met in Kigali, Rwanda, for the 10th session on Friday 16 November 2007. The plenary was to prepare the ACP side for its meeting with the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) scheduled to take place next week from 19th to 22nd November 2007. Deliberations on the ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements, a priority issue for the 14th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, did not take place after a number of delegations wanted the draft Kigali Declaration on EPAs to incorporate some amendments. The redrafting of the Declaration instead was given to a small working committee to finalize the text on behalf of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly. In political matters, the parliamentarians asked the ACP President and Co-President of the JPA Hon. Radembino CONIQUET to sent congratulatory letters to the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda after their countries adopted a joint Declaration that committed them to work together to address the problems that are currently taking place at their border areas. The ACP Parliamentary Assembly also decided to adopt a Declaration to demonstrate its opposition to the kidnapping of over 100 children by foreign nationals in Chad a few weeks ago. The Declaration is bound to attract much discussion during next week’s JPA. An in-house matter that was discussed at length was the signing of the Charter of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly. A total of 56 out of 79 ACP countries have signed the Charter since the Assembly came into being in Mali in 2005. Countries that have not sign have been urged repeatedly in the past to do so or face sanctions. The ACP Secretariat was asked to send letters of reminder again to the countries that have not signed. The mandatory two-year term of the ACP President Hon. CONIQUET of Gabon is coming to an end at the conclusion of the Kigali meeting. The Pacific region has been asked to nominate the next ACP Co-President to lead the group for the next two years. |
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