By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | BRUSSELS (IDN) – While preparing for talks on future relations with the European Union (EU) after the Cotonou Agreement expires in February 2020, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is engaged in concerted efforts to reshape itself into “an effective global player” serving as a catalyst and […]
Caribbean States Share Common Values & Interests with Other ACP Countries
By Reinhardt Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) – As the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) girds up its loins for talks on future relations with the European Union (EU) after the Cotonou Agreement expires in February 2020, the Caribbean Forum of the ACP States (CARIFORUM) has resolved that a new pact must take into […]
Action Needed to Ratify the 1996 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
By Dr Lassina Zerbo The author is Executive Secretary of CTBTO, Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. The following is a slightly abridged and modified text of his address on 26 February to the High-level segment of the Conference on Disarmament, multilateral disarmament negotiating forum where the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in Geneva […]
ACP Group Joins with OCTs to Fight Illegal Fishing and Other Threats to Life Below Water
By Dr Patrick I. Gomes, ACP Secretary-General The following is a slightly modified version of remarks by the ACP Secretary General to the High-Level Forum of Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and the European Union in Brussels on 23 February 2018 on ‘Engaging the OCTs and SDGs and the Post-Cotonou Process’. – The Editor BRUSSELS […]
EU and 79 ACP Countries Plan a ‘Modernised Partnership’
By Reinhardt Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) – As the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) gear up for talks on future relations between the two groupings after the Cotonou Agreement expires in February 2020, some areas of agreement on their respective stances have emerged. The agreement that was signed […]
Investment Boosts Protected Areas Across 79 ACP States
By Jaya Ramachandran BRUSSELS (IDN | IUCN) – “The protection and sustainable management of biodiversity in ACP countries requires a comprehensive approach that extends beyond the establishment of protected areas,” according to Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary-General of the ACP Group. It is against this backdrop that the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) Group of States […]
South-South Cooperation Complements North-South Coaction
By Ambassador Galo Yepez Ambassador Galo Yepez is Director of NGOs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of the Republic of Ecuador. Following are extensive excerpts from his statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China at the High-Level Opening Ceremony of the Global South-South Development (GSSD) Expo 2017 on 27 November […]
ACP Greets EU-UN Action To Combat Wildlife Trafficking
BRUSSELS (IDN) – The 79-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States has welcomed the European Union’s decision to launch a coordinated action jointly with the United Nations to counter the illegal killing and trafficking of wildlife in Southern and Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean. As part of a 30 million Euro (35.3 […]
79 ACP Countries Resolve ‘Blue Growth Initiative’
By Jaya Ramachandran
BRUSSELS (IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, constituting the ACP Group of States, are determined to develop the fisheries and aquaculture sector in their countries, and unlock the potential of the ‘blue economy’ through a new 40 million Euro (about US$46.8 million) “ACP Blue Growth Initiative”.
The decision to that effect was announced at the conclusion of the 5th ACP Meeting of Ministers in charge of Fisheries and Aquaculture, who gathered in Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas – the coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean Bahamas with 700-plus islands – from September 18 to 21, 2017.
Conference Calls for Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Becoming International Law
By Jamshed Baruah
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – “A CTBT that is in force would be a milestone on the road to a world free of nuclear weapons. It has the potential to prevent a nuclear arms race and an escalation of regional and bilateral tensions,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. He was referring to the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) that bans nuclear testing on the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere, underwater, and underground.
“Make no mistake: we need this Treaty,” said Miroslav Lajcák, President of the UN General Assembly. “I applaud the CTBT Preparatory Commission for raising awareness about the dangers associated with testing and for its partnership with the United Nations,” added Guterres.