Brussels, 29 June 2022, OACPS: Arising from a six-month mission, a Policy Recommendation Report has been developed by high-level international experts to assist Timor-Leste in setting up an efficient Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy framework and a national digital repository.

Brussels, 27 June 2022/OACPS: Since 2017, The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed June 27 as Micro and Small and Medium-Sized Business (MSME) Day to raise public awareness of their importance in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Brussels, 24 June 2022/OACPS: The African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) held its first in-person JPA Youth Forum since the last which was organised in Kigali in 2019. The Forum, themed, “Promoting youth participation in peace and security in the ACP countries and beyond” was held at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium. Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group, Poland and the Hon. Clifford ANDRE of Seychelles co-chaired the meeting.

Geneva, 24 June 2022/OACPS: Ministers in Geneva concluded the 12^th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12), with agreed multilaterally negotiated outcomes in a number of areas. MC12 was supposed to be a four-day conference scheduled for June 12-15 2022, but was extended by a day as trade ministers negotiated day and night to reach an agreement near dawn on Friday, June 17 2022. The OACPS representation was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, H.E. Ms Kamina Johnson Smith.

Brussels, 23 June 2022/OACPS: On 21 June 2022, the European Commission (EC) adopted a proposal to mobilise €600 million from the reserves of the European Development Fund (EDF) to address the current food security crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These funds will support Members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) to cope with the dire situation, through humanitarian assistance (€150 million), sustainable production and resilience of food systems (€350 million) and macro-economic support (€100 million).

Brussels, 14 June 2022/OACPS: Some Diplomatic missions and members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) accredited to the Kingdom of Belgium and/or the European Union, have, since 2021, been confronted with the closure of their bank accounts by Belgian banks in Brussels, Belgium. The closure of these accounts causes enormous difficulties that affect the proper functioning of the diplomatic missions concerned and disrupts the fulfilment of their mandate as stipulated by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Brussels, 9 June 2022/OACPS: Participants at the hybrid 114^th Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), held from 8-9 June 2022, deliberated eleven Decisions and one Resolution arising from the Meeting, which took place at the Brussels-based Headquarters of the OACPS.

STATEMENT BY SECRETARY-GENERAL H.E. GEORGE REBELO PINTO CHIKOTI OF THE OACPS FOR WORLD OCEANS DAY 2022

Brussels, 8 June 2022/OACPS: On behalf of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, joins the global community scattered across our Blue Planet – on continents and islands - to mark World Oceans Day, whose theme for 2022 is, “Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean.”

Brussels, 7 June 2022/OACPS: The Secretariat of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), will, for the first time in two years, open its doors for live participation at the 114^th Session of the Council of Ministers.  

The official opening on 8 June 2022 will be preceded by three ministerial meetings on Trade, Development Finance Cooperation and of the Ad Hoc Contact Group on the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdiction and that of the third countries regarding anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

          Brussels, 6 June 2022/OACPS:Forty-seven years ago, representatives of African, Caribbean and Pacific States gathered in Guyana to sign the Georgetown Agreement, bringing into being a group of States, which shared a common history and similar cultures even though they lived continents apart. They came together to jointly pursue the political and social-economic development of their countries for the benefit of their peoples