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

First Ministerial Meeting of ACP Ministers in Charge of Fisheries starts in Brussels

ACP PRESS RELEASE: 4 June 2009: The first Ministerial Meeting of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Ministers in Charge of Fisheries is taking place in Brussels, Belgium, from June 4 – 5, 2009.
The meeting is taking place a year after the 87th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers in Addis Ababa in 2008 adopted a resolution on Fisheries which called for a first meeting of ACP Ministers in charge of fisheries to be convened in 2009.
One of the main objectives for that meeting is the setting up of an ACP mechanism for ministerial coordination and cooperation on fisheries.

Fisheries is of paramount importance to the economies of ACP countries with over two thirds of global capture fisheries output is now originating from developing countries, and the value of globally traded fisheries products is reaching 150 billion USD, when aquaculture is included.

This week’s meeting would among other subjects, delve into issues related to the all important, and often overpowering foreign market access challenges for ACP fisheries products, and the development of national fisheries economies, which are crucially important to the ACP/EU partnership.
ACP Fisheries ministers are also expected to address generic fisheries governance issues, Illegal Unreported and Unregulated fishing, fishing overcapacity and the performance of fisheries management frameworks.

It is anticipated that discussion on these subjects will guide ACP countries in addressing the various EU regulatory frameworks in the future, amongst other things.

It is hoped that through collective effort and action of ACP Ministers, the governance of fisheries in ACP states would improve over time, hand in hand with the sustainable growth of social and economic benefits derived from fisheries.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the ministerial meeting, senior fisheries officials have successfully completed a today-day meeting on Wednesday in Brussels.