Nigeria assumes presidency of  ACP Council of Ministers from 1 February to 31 July 2002
 

As from 1 February 2002, Nigeria will assume for six months the rotating presidency of the ACP Council of Ministers as well as Chair of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors in Brussels. Nigeria was designated at the last Council of Ministers held in Brussels on 6 and 7 December 2001.

The president of Council is Mr. Magnus L. KPAKOL, National Authorizing Officer of the EDF (European Development Fund) and Chief Economic Advisor of the President of Nigeria.

Besides directing all the activities of the Bureau and all the plenary sessions of the Council, the president will also assume the Co-presidency of the joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers. Inter alia, he will represent the ACP Group in the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, lead the Group’s delegations to ACP-EU political consultations provided for by the Cotonou Agreement, and generally act as the principal spokesman of the Group.

During the Nigerian presidency, the Chairman of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, who steers ACP-EU relations in Brussels will be Mr Gabriel S. AKUNWAFOR, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and the European Union.

The Bureaux of the Council of Ministers and the Committee of Ambassadors will be composed as follows:

Chair (West Africa) : Nigeria
 

Members :
East Africa : Kenya
West Africa : Senegal
Central Africa : Gabon
Southern Africa : South Africa
The Caribbean : Belize
The Pacific : Fiji

Troika :
Nigeria,
Tonga,
East Africa (country to be designated)
 

contact :
Hegel Goutier
Chief Press-Communication
+322743604 /+322743693
fax : =3227430658
www.acp.int