Towards a Global Role for ACP?

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) met this week in Brussels for the 105th Session of its Council of Ministers to discuss the key question of how these 79 countries could play a more effective role for their own citizens and in the international arena.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2017/05/towards-a-global-role-for-acp/

ACP: One Billion People to Speak To Europe with One Voice

Seventy-nine countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, which are home to around one billon people, will speak with one voice as they prepare to negotiate a major partnership agreement with the European Union (500 million inhabitants) in May.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2017/04/acp-one-billion-people-to-speak-to-europe-with-one-voice/

ACP countries unite on empowerment of rural women and youth

Women make up, on average, over 40 percent of the agricultural labour force in the developing world and yet typically they do not have sufficient access to critical resources and services to become as productive as their male counterparts. In fact, across all regions, rural women and girls continue to face significant discrimination compared with men and boys, with women being more likely than men to hold poor quality jobs and benefit less from agricultural value chains.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2016/02/acp-countries-unite-on-empowerment-of-rural-women-and-youth-2/

Opinion: Recognize the Aspirations of ACP Group of Developing Countries

The significance of the issues covered in the post-2015 development agenda, to be adopted at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25-27 September, cannot be over-emphasized.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2015/09/opinion-recognize-the-aspirations-of-acp-group-of-developing-countries/

Opinion: The ACP at 40 – Repositioning as a Global Player

In his memoirs, Glimpses of a Global Life, Sir Shridath Ramphal, then-Foreign Minister of the Republic of Guyana, who played a leading role in the evolution of the Lomé negotiations that lead to the birth of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, pointed to the significant lessons of that engagement of developed and developing countries some 40 years ago and had this to say:
https://www.ipsnews.net/2015/06/opinion-the-acp-at-40-repositioning-as-a-global-player/

Why ACP Countries Matter for the EU Post-2015 Development Agenda

We are witnessing a shift in the original rationale behind the unique relationship between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries of the ACP group, which goes beyond the logic of “unilateral aid transfer”, “donor-recipient approach” and “North-South dialogue”.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2015/06/why-acp-countries-matter-for-the-eu-post-2015-development-agenda/

ACP Aims to Make Voice of the Moral Majority Count in the Global Arena

“Four decades of existence is a milestone for the ACP as an international alliance of developing countries,” Dr Patrick I. Gomes of Guyana, newly appointed Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries, said at the opening of the 101st Session of the group’s Council of Ministers.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2015/05/acp-aims-to-make-voice-of-the-moral-majority-count-in-the-global-arena/

UNIDO Development Initiative Gains Momentum in ACP Nations

The inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) initiative of the U.N. Industrial Development Organisation to promote industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalisation and environmental sustainability is gaining momentum in the countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. 
https://www.ipsnews.net/2014/12/unido-development-initiative-gains-momentum-in-acp-nations/

What Future for the ACP-EU Partnership Post-2015?

“There are still prospects for a meaningful ACP-EU partnership, capable of contributing and responding concretely and effectively to the objectives of promoting and attaining peace, security, poverty eradication and sustainable development,” according to the top official of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).
https://www.ipsnews.net/2014/12/what-future-for-the-acp-eu-partnership-post-2015/

Caribbean Joins with EU, ACP to Better Manage Migration

With the exception of those pictures of Haitians in overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels trying to reach places like The Bahamas and the United States, the image of the Caribbean is usually not one that portrays people from poor developing countries desperately trying to scratch out a living among the scattered islands.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2011/09/caribbean-joins-with-eu-acp-to-better-manage-migration/

EU-ACP TRADE TALKS FAIL TO ADDRESS DEVELOPMENT

Trade deal negotiations between the EU and African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries ended in a mess, writes Glenys Kinnock, Labour Party Member of the European Parliament. In this article, Kinnock writes that from the outset the European Commission negotiators approached the talks as if they were conventional free-trade area negotiations rather than tools for development. Now is the time for the EU to put development priorities back at the heart of the issue. There has to be a more participatory approach, more transparency, respect, and understanding for ACP regional and national interests. We urgently need a further opening of EU markets to ACP products, particularly agricultural products, which are the main exports for ACP countries. We must also ensure that the EC doesn\'t pressure ACP countries to liberalise services, investment, and government procurement, or to strengthen intellectual property rights or the inclusion of competition rules within EPAs. These EU-ACP trade agreements are absolutely critical to the future of the poorest countries in the world. We must ensure they are a genuine force for development.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2008/03/eu-acp-trade-talks-fail-to-address-development/

TRADE: Europe Grapples With the Future of ACP Sugar Imports

The European Union (EU) has imported sugar at preferential prices from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries since the 1970s; but, failed sugar reform within the union and the prospect of unlimited imports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the near future have put a question mark over this arrangement.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2007/03/trade-europe-grapples-with-the-future-of-acp-sugar-imports/

DEVELOPMENT: ACP Nations Opt for Trade on Their Terms

Leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States wrapped up their fifth summit Friday in the Sudanese capital, after two days of debate over controversial trade arrangements between the ACP and the European Union.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2006/12/development-acp-nations-opt-for-trade-on-their-terms/

DEVELOPMENT: ACP Nations Opt for Trade on Their Terms

Leaders of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States wrapped up their fifth summit Friday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum - this after two days of debate over trade relations between the ACP, a 79-member grouping that includes some of the world's poorest nations - and the European Union (EU).
https://www.ipsnews.net/2006/12/development-acp-nations-opt-for-trade-on-their-terms/

DEVELOPMENT: Trade Agreements, Darfur in the Spotlight at ACP Gathering

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is taking place under the theme 'United for Peace, Solidarity and Sustainability'; however, negotiations at the meeting may have a somewhat less harmonious tone.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2006/12/development-trade-agreements-darfur-in-the-spotlight-at-acp-gathering/

DEVELOPMENT: ACP States Feeling the Pinch of 2007 Trade Deadline

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will kick off on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, amidst fierce speculation over the fate of trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and ACP nations.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2006/12/development-acp-states-feeling-the-pinch-of-2007-trade-deadline/

POLITICS: Old Trade Beefs to Resurface at ACP Meet

Not many Caribbean leaders are expected to attend the two-day summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group starting in Sudan Thursday, but the region will follow its agenda quite keenly, including a proposed Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union and a new threat to its ailing banana industry.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2006/12/politics-old-trade-beefs-to-resurface-at-acp-meet/

DEVELOPMENT: ACP Seeks Its Own Parliament

Parliamentarians from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries agreed this week on setting up a joint 'parliament' to improve internal cohesion and to gain influence with the European Union, World Trade Organisation and other bodies.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2004/11/development-acp-seeks-its-own-parliament/

DEVELOPMENT: Report Urges ACP Countries to Care for Environment

African, Caribbean and Pacific countries must conserve their natural resources if they are to achieve poverty reduction, says a new report co-authored by members of the Nigerian and European Parliament.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2003/07/development-report-urges-acp-countries-to-care-for-environment/

DEVELOPMENT: Special Needs Require Special Treatment – ACP Leaders

Leaders of the African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) states called at the end of their summit here Friday for phased trade liberalisation, saying their special needs require special treatment from the European Union.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2002/07/development-special-needs-require-special-treatment-acp-leaders/

DEVELOPMENT: EU-ACP Meet Fails to Bridge Divide

Delegates from the European Union and from former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific failed to bridge differences over trade policies at a meeting last week.
https://www.ipsnews.net/2002/07/development-eu-acp-meet-fails-to-bridge-divide/