Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma (4th from right) with Commonwealth leaders at the Press Conference marking the end of the Commonwealth mini summit on ‘Reforming International Institutions’, Marlborough House, London, 10 June 2008.

Roland Kemp/ © Commonwealth Secretariat

Most Commonwealth states belong to the ACP Group (see box, page 27). A large important ongoing project is ‘Hub and Spokes’ between the European Commission (EC), the Commonwealth Secretariat and the ’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie’ (Organisation of French-speaking countries). “The purpose is to increase the ability of the ACP countries to effectively develop, manage and negotiate their own trade policies,” explains Edwin Laurent. Funding – mainly from the European Commission, but also from other partners – is for a number of ‘hubs’, comprising a senior trade policy adviser and trade policy analysts based in ACP regional bodies who are assisted by trade policy analysts in individual ACP countries – known as ‘spokes’. They work alongside trade officials of national governments. The analysts are generally not from the host country and many are recruited from a completely different region, explains Edwin Laurent. Both ACP and EC trade analysts are eligible. About half of ACP states benefit from the national experts, says Laurent who continues, “It is a project that has worked exceedingly well and has helped countries understand the issues in trade negotiations and trade-related areas that they would not otherwise have appreciated.” He adds that it was the brainchild of former EC Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy during the early days of trade talks on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and trade negotiations in the Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). One of the challenges ‘Hub and Spokes’ is currently facing is its all-ACP character, says Laurent: “There is a view now, I understand, that its management will be decentralised and instead of having an all ACP part, the ACP regions have communicated quite clearly with us that in the interests of management and the coherence of the whole system, it is much more efficient to do it on a regional basis.’’

Research on China’s rise

The Commonwealth has also provided experts and advisers to the ACP Secretariat in specialised areas funded out of a ‘Commonwealth fund for technical assistance.’ These internationally-recruited experts work with the ACP Secretariat for a fixed period of time, often on a specific subject. There is currently an adviser in the ACP office in Geneva who is instrumental in informing ACP Ambassadors on WTO happenings – particularly helpful for those ACP countries that have no representation in Geneva, explains Laurent. He adds: “We also provide research and assistance to the ACP group and would like to further bolster its negotiating positions on certain issues.” He says that his organisation had a specific request on the impact of the rise of China on African nations. “We are also working on trying to promote consensus and understanding between countries so we have informal meetings”, says Laurent. Political encounters have been promoted between ACP Ministers and European counterparts. “We do this in an informal, off-the-record-way where you can speak freely. Quite recently we had one with the new EC Commissioner for Trade, Baroness Ashton with 12 ACP Ministers. She was new and we thought that as the Commonwealth we could make a contributon by promoting understanding outside the conference room and the confrontational framework of negotiations”, says Laurent, adding: “In the established structures like the ACP-EC joint Ministerial Trade Committee, discussions are on the record: people take positions and they defend them. The purpose of the informal meetings is to win arguments. What we can do is to promote understanding – empathy.”
But will the Commonwealth continue to back the ACP as an entity, given the current trend towards strengethening regional groupings within the ACP, especially in the trade sphere? Laurent makes the point that because so many Commonwealth members are also in the ACP group, in supporting the ACP the Commonwealth is supporting itself. There is also a more fundamental reason, he adds: the Commonwealth principle about creating a fairer and better world. “If you want to bring about change and a better world, what better group to focus on than the ACP. It is the group that needs the assistance the most.” He says that whatever the future configuration of the ACP Group, the Commonwealth Secetariat would support the ACPs and try to ensure that the maximum benefit is obtained from other partners.

For more info: www.commonwealth.org

Stronger ties

On March 23 2009, ACP Secretary General, Sir John Kaputin, met in Brussels with his Commonwealth counterpart, Kamalesh Sharma, to look at new areas of cooperation. The outcome, says Laurent, was a commitment to “more active and fuller cooperation”. A detailed programme is to be drawn up within the coming weeks and is likely to look at stronger links in existing areas rather than creating new ones. Scope includes more research, training activities, capacity-building initiatives, workshops and seminars. During the meeting, Sir John recalled that the Commonwealth and ACP had already cooperated in the areas of migration, trade, culture, political dialogue and conflict prevention. Mr Sharma said that the current global, financial, food and energy crises were reasons for stepping up cooperation.

Commonwealth Members who are also Members of the ACP Group: Antigua and Barbua; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Botswana; Cameroon; Dominica; Fiji Islands*; The Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guyana; Jamaica; Kenya; Kiribati; Lesotho; Malawi; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Nauru**; Nigeria; Papua New Guinea; St. Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Swaziland; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tuvalu; Uganda; Tanzania; Vanuatu; Zambia

*Fiji Islands was suspended from the Council of the Commonwealth in December 2006 following a military coup
**Nauru is a member in Arrears
Keywords: Commonwealth Secretariat; ACP Group; ‘Hub and Spokes’; Sir John Kaputin; Kamalesh Sharma; Pascal Lamy; Baroness Ashton

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