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PRESS RELEASE - 5th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government: ACP Heads of State and Government renew their commitments to sustainable development for their countries Khartoum, 8 December 2006
ACP Heads of State and Government renew their commitments to sustainable development for their countries The 5th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government ended on 8th December 2006 with the adoption of a Declaration in which the leaders reaffirm their commitments to the ACP Group. Meeting for two days under the chairmanship of H.E. Mr. Omar Hassan Ahmed El-Bashir, President of the Republic of Sudan, and incoming President of the 5th ACP Summit, on the theme : « United for peace, solidarity and sustainable development », the Summit also adopted a declaration on the political situation in Fiji condemning the coup d’etat that took place on 5 December 2006. One of the main chapters of the Declaration, which will serve as a basis for the Group for its political action and development initiatives in the years ahead, is on Peace, Security and Stability in which the ACP Heads of State and Government reiterated their commitment to the promotion of peace and international justice. The Summit reaffirmed the importance of peace, security and stability for the sustainable development of ACP countries, and undertook to reinforce and deepen intra-ACP political dialogue. On Multilateralism, the ACP Heads of State and Government affirmed the need to promote initiatives to achieve the realization of multilateral cooperation in the areas of economic development and social progress, peace and security, and human rights for all and the rule of law. They renewed their calls for a world economic order that would promote economic growth with equity, trade liberalisation for products from their States and regions, and an increasing flow of investments into their States and Regions. In other areas, ACP leaders expressed their concern over the continuing erosion of the traditional preferences which under the ACP-EU Commodity Protocols sustained ACP exports of bananas and sugar to the EU markets. They urged the EU to declare these exports as sensitive products, bearing in mind the significance of this historical trade in ACP-EU relations, as well as its critical role in the socio-economic development in ACP countries. They also urged the EU to ensure the timely and efficient delivery of adequate resources to boost the competitiveness of ACP banana and sugar trade, and to support their diversification programmes. The meeting also called on all the WTO Member States to speed up the search for an urgent solution to the cotton dossier in the framework of the ongoing negotiations and appealed to the development partners to provide the cotton sector with the resources necessary to its survival and development, in accordance with the prior commitments. As for Social development, the Summit made statements on Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Energy, and Migration. The 5th Summit endorsed the Brussels Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development and its Framework for Action issued by the 1st Meeting of ACP Ministers of Education and reiterated its commitment to enhance its efforts in eradicating illiteracy through exchange of experiences and know-how in basic education, as well as to address the inequities in the access to learning opportunities as an essential principle in pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. ACP leaders reaffirmed their will to ensure access to health services to all ACP peoples and, especially, to ensure the prevention of malaria in the framework of the promotion of holistic health for all. The Summit reiterated its resolve to increased access to safe, affordable, and sustainable water supply, small-scale irrigation, especially through the maximum utilization of traditional irrigation systems and local technologies, as well as increased and improved affordable sanitation services. In this regard, it reaffirmed its support to the activities of the ACP-EU Water Facility and call for the funding of the Facility to be extended to the 10th EDF. On migration, ACP Heads of State and Government repeated their call for open dialogue with all partners, and in particular the European Union, the aim of establishing responsible and fair mechanisms to manage migration, combat racism and xenophobia, and foster the development of the migrant’s full potential particularly the institutionalisation of the positive contributions of the Diaspora to development in our countries. As regards Environmental Sustainability, the Summit reaffirmed its commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol with a view of the global community establishing an equitable and effective future climate change regime that enabled the stabilization of atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases while at the same time allowed economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. It also appealed to the International Community and the European Union in particular for better collaboration in the exchange of information to assist in preventing and fighting against the dumping, in ACP States, of toxic waste and other hazardous products. On Culture and Development, the Summit reaffirmed its commitment to the development and establishment of its cultural industries, and to adopt enabling measures for the creation of employment in the cultural sector. It also reaffirmed the mutual respect between civilizations and the different religions and beliefs, and urged the ACP States to promote culture and intra-ACP cultural exchanges with a view to strengthening the bonds of solidarity and the identity of ACP States. Concerning Information and Communication Technologies for Development, ACP Heads of State and Government expressed their concern on the widening digital divide between ACP States and leading emerging markets as well as the developed world. They therefore reaffirmed their commitment to establishing appropriate national and regional policies, which could help to bridge this divide, and further urge the developed world to support these efforts. With respect to External Relations, ACP Heads of State and Government reiterated their commitment to maintain and strengthen their relations with traditional and new partners, and in particular with the European Union. They reiterated that Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) must be instruments for development and poverty eradication in ACP countries. In this regard, negotiations of EPAs must address the development dimension and take into consideration the financing of adjustment costs, as well as the link between EPAs and regional integration. They urged and expected the EU to honour its legal and political obligations enshrined in Article 36(4) of the Cotonou Agreement, in particular the safeguarding of the benefits derived from Commodity Protocols bearing in mind the special legal status of the Sugar Protocol. As regards the Future of the ACP Group, the ACP Heads of State and Government underlined their conviction that the ACP Group should reinforce itself within the new evolving global economic and political order. They reaffirmed the enhancement of intra-ACP cooperation as a pillar of ACP Unity and Solidarity and urged the replication of best practices of sustainable development efforts from ACP Regional Initiatives within the Group. The Summit instructed the Council of Ministers to identify optimum roles for the ACP Group in order to better engage in International Relations in comparison to other similar Inter-Governmental Organisations to which our countries are also members. It also mandated the Council of Ministers to instruct the Committee of Ambassadors to include, in the framework of the reflection on the future of the ACP Group, the organisation of an ACP-EU Summit. Amongst the leaders who attended the Summit were Omer Hassan Ahmed El BASHIR, President of the Republic of Sudan, and incoming President of the 5th Summit, Armando Emilio GUEBUZA, President of the Republic of Mozambique, and President of the 4th ACP Summit, Robert MUGABE President of Zimbabwe, Blaise COMPAORE, President of the Republic of Burkina Faso, Pierre NKURUNZIZA, President of the Republic of Burundi, Ismaël Omar GUELLEH, President of the Republic of Djibouti, Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed FAL, President of the Republic of Mauritania, Faure E. GNASSINGBE, President of the Republic of Togo, Didjob DIVUNGI DI NDINGE, Vice-President of the Republic of Gabon, Meles ZENAWI, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ethiopia, Pakalitha B. Mosisili, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho and Bernard MAKUZA, Prime Minister of the Republic of Rwanda. Several countries and international organizations also took part in the Summit as observers. Among them were the European Union, the Commonwealth, the African Union, Venezuela, the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League, the OIF, the FAO, the ECOWAS, the ILO, the IMF, the IOM, the CTA and the CDE. |
