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

The 13^th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) opened on Monday 25 June 2007 at 11:00 hrs at the Friedrich-von-Thiersch Saal, Kurhaus, in Wiesbaden, Germany.  The Co-Presidents of the JPA, Mr. Rene Radembino-Coniquet and Mrs. Glenys Kinnock, were joined at the front by notable political leaders, among them the President of the Republic of Germany and President of the European Parliament.

Mr. Hildebrandt Diehl, the Lord Mayor of Wiesbaden, made the opening speech welcoming the delegations and visitors to his city. 

The President of the Republic of Germany, Dr. Horst Kohler, focused his speech on poverty eradication.  He called on the ACP and EU countries to utilize the various regional arrangements under the Cotonou Partnership to address the root causes of poverty.  Among the causes that the President singled out was corruption.  He explained that this malady has had a dampening effect on resources allocation and distribution in many countries especially in the developing world.  The need for good governance was a prerequisite for both developed and developing countries.

President Kohler also called for fair and equitable trade especially under the framework of the Economic Partnership Agreement that is due to be concluded by the end of 2007.  “A paradigm shift is needed to move trade to another level,” the President concluded. 

Mr. Hans-Gert Pottering, the President of the European Parliament, reiterated key European Union initiatives.  Among these was the intention to increase aid for Africa.  He also highlighted two “challenges” that ACP and EU countries had to seriously address through active dialogue.  The first was respect for human rights.  Parliaments on both sides of the partnership have to look closely at how to protect and safeguard human rights for all peoples.  The EU President added that the protection of human rights should be the “benchmark of the dignity of all parliaments.”  On the second challenge, President Pottering raised concerns about illegal immigration between Africa, the Mediterranean and Europe.  The ACP and EU sides, he reasoned, needed to increase and sustain their efforts in addressing this problem. 

Co-President of the JPA Mrs. Gladys Kinnock, among other things, raised the point that the G-8 group had failed to live up to the promises made in Gleneagles in 2005.  To that end, the most recent G-8 meeting held in Heiligendamm, Germany, in early June 2007 was a mere reiteration of the promises made two years ago.  The Co-President called on the rich countries to prioritize debt relief since it has made significant differences in developing countries where they have been granted.  Mrs. Kinnock also urged her parliamentarian colleagues to maintain vigilance over the situation in Darfur and Zimbabwe. 

The other Co-President of the JPA, Mr. Rene Radembino-Coniquet, reminded the parliamentarians on both sides to step efforts in their respective countries to meet the minimum requirement in the ratification of the revised Cotonou Agreement.  All 27 EU members and two-thirds of the ACP countries need to sign before 31 December 2007.  Critically important is that the ratification requirement is needed to facilitate accessibility to funding under the 10th EDF that comes into effect on 1 January 2008. 

Mrs. Heidemarie Wieczorez-zeul, the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development and Co-President of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, made an undertaking that her government looked forward to fulfilling the promises made at Monterrey and the G-8 meeting in Gleneagles, especially with regard to debt cancellation and the doubling of aid to developing countries.