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

ACP HOUSE, BRUSSELS

Madam Chair,
Honourable Ministers,
Your Excellencies the Ambassadors,
Distinguished Representatives of the regional
organisations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a privilege for me to welcome you to ACP House this morning for the opening of the 11th meeting of the ACP Ministerial Trade Committee. I thank you for agreeing to participate in this meeting.

Allow me, first of all, to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the organisation of this meeting, in particular the numerous changes regarding the date and venue of the meeting. These changes, which were due mainly to developments in the situation in Geneva regarding the post-Hong Kong negotiations of the Doha Agenda, have indeed had a considerable negative impact on the management of logistic issues.

As you know, it had been expected that the negotiations of the modalities would have been concluded by the end of April 2006. Since this was not the case, the negotiation schedule had to be adjusted whereas the decision had already been taken to organise the meetings of the ACP Ministerial Trade Committee and the Joint Ministerial Trade Committee in Brussels from 26 to 28 June, and several binding commitments had already been made.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The two sets of negotiations in which we are involved have entered a critical phase. On one hand, we have exactly one and a half years left to conclude the EPA negotiations. On the other, the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration has set a number of deadlines for accomplishing certain tasks, with a view to speeding up the negotiation process and concluding the round by the end of 2006.

We must therefore step up our efforts to successfully conclude these two sets of negotiations and ensure that our legitimate interests are safeguarded.

However, we will not relinquish our prerogatives under the pretext of meeting prescribed deadlines and concluding the negotiations within a set timeframe.

We have entered into these negotiations with the aim of deriving substantial benefit and significantly improving the economic situation of our countries, and thereby the living conditions of our populations. That is the ultimate goal that we must always keep in mind.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past few years, issues relating to development and the reduction of poverty have been given increasing attention in international discussions. Obvious examples include the Doha Declaration which made “development” the primary focus of multinational negotiations, the United Nations World Summit in September 2005 which outlined a series of measures aimed at attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and various debt-reduction initiatives that have been taken. We need a lot of imagination and drive to take full advantage of all these new opportunities available to us.

I will not repeat the long list of issues that are of major concern to the ACP countries in these two sets of negotiations for I know that the Ministers here today are more competent and in a better position than I am to address them.

I hope your discussions over the coming three days will enable you to devise ways and means to help the ACP countries meet the challenges posed by globalisation, and to gradually adapt their economies to the new requirements of international trade.

I wish you a successful meeting.