The recent meeting of the Council of Ministers of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, held in Ouagadougou from 17 to 20 June 2010, expressed its regret that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is ignoring the plight of African cotton producers. The council meeting, chaired by the Minister for Economy of Gabon, Paul Bunduku Latha, was concerned that the WTO had made no progress in processing its current case concerning cotton producers.
ACP ministers also regretted that Brazil and the United States had decided to settle their dispute over subsidies granted to US producers outside the WTO; a way of avoiding a ruling by the WTO which would have found against them in favour of African countries. They expressed their shock that this issue was not even on the agenda of the WTO General Council in Geneva last May.The ACP Council of Ministers had been preceded on 17 and 18 June by sectoral ministerial committees dealing with cotton, sugar, bananas and financing development. Following the Council meeting, ACP ministers were then joined on 21 and 22 June by their European colleagues for the 35th Session of the Council of ACP-EU Ministers. The main point on the agenda was the signing of the revised Cotonou Agreement. This review is the second since the signing of this agreement in 2000. The Cotonou Agreement is in force until 2020.