Who will be the ACP’s next Secretary General?

Ministers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of nations have their work cut out in the coming week. In addition to the task of electing a new Secretary General who will head the Brussels-based Secretariat for five years from February 2009, they will prepare ACP positions for the upcoming World Trade Organisation Ministerial (WTO), 30 November-2 December, and the World Cimate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7 December-18 December.

The three candidates from West Africa in the running for the S-G post to replace current incumbent, Sir John Kaputin from Papua New Guinea are to be interviewed in turn on 16 November by the Bureau of the ACP Council in Ministers. They are: Cape Verde’s current Ambassador the the EC, Fernando Wahnon Ferreira; the Gambia’s former Ambassador to the EC, Alieu Ngum and Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a national of Ghana who is the incumbent Execiutive Secreatary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

If the Bureau of ACP Ministers comprising Ministers from each of the six ACP regions and past, present (Malawi) and future Ministers of the ACP Presidency reaches a consensus on Monday, it will submit its choice for approval by the plenary of all ACP Ministers later in the week.

A meeting of senior ACP trade officials kicked off the heavy schedule on November 11 to prepare the ground for upcoming WTO meeting. They were expected to discuss the Doha Round Work Programme and the WTO’s contribution to economic recovery, growth and development.

Trade concerns

In view of the financial crisis, current ACP Secretary General, Sir John Kaputin told the gathered trade experts “you will also be called upon to make recommendations on how to strengthen the WTO to fully serve the interests and address the concerns of Groups of States such as the ACP”.
ACP Trade Ministers will subsequently meet in Brussels, November 12-13. This meeting is expected to prepare the ground for the second review of the Cotonou Agreement (2000-2020). “The main issue is the increased focus being given to support to regional integration in the ACP States, following the conclusion of the three strategy papers EU-Africa, EU-Caribbean and EU-Pacific,” Sir John told the opening meeting of trade officials, 11 November.

Trade Ministers are also expected to review in detail the traditionally thorny issues in their trade relations with EU countries; bananas, sugar, cotton and fisheries as well as the way forward in negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) - free trade agreements between ACP and EU states.
“The negotiations on EPAs which commenced in September 2002 are still with us. Except for the CARIFORUM (with the exception of Haiti), no other ACP region has completed the negotiations”, Sir John told trade officials on 11 November.

In addition to the ’full’ EPA agreement with CARIFORUM (the Caribbean region), some ACP states across various ACP regions have signed individual ‘goods only’ agreements. Although EU states and some ACP states alike have signalled a new impetus in EPA talks since early Autumn 2009, many ACP states are still concerned about what opening their respective markets to imports from EU countries will mean for their respective future national and regional development, especially in these uncertain economic times. Other ACP states want the EC to be more specific on the pledged aid for trade assistance to be disbursed once respective EPAs are in place.