Brussels 12 December 2018/ACP/: The 108th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers is scheduled to begin tomorrow 13 December 2018 in Brussels, bringing together officials from 79 ACP countries to take decisions on key development issues, as well as institutional matters involving the future of the organisation.

Chaired by His Excellency Dr. Issa Doubragne Minister for the Economy and Development Planning of Chad, the 108th Session will be the first ACP Ministerial meeting since the start of ACP-EU Post Cotonou negotiations which was officially launched in New York on September 28, 2018.

The Directive establishing the audiovisual legal deposit in the eight Member States of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEMOA), which was published on 1 December in UEMOA's Official Journal, is the first of its kind in the world. This Directive, which is the only existing example of a common audiovisual legal deposit initiative, will facilitate the preservation of audiovisual heritage in an economic area with 112 million inhabitants, comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

The ACP Group joins the world in mourning the loss of Kofi Annan, one of the great peacemakers of the 20^th century and a global statesman.

His outstanding leadership was a source of great inspiration to all our 79 Member States.  Our condolences go out to his family, the government and people of Ghana, for giving to the world so great a son, brother and friend to all humanity.