EU, Commonwealth and Francophonie support ACP trade policy makers

The European Commission, the ACP Secretariat, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Agence Intergouvernmentale de la Francophonie are jointly launching a major effort to support capacity in the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to formulate trade policies and negotiate trade agreements. A network of trade advisors will be established throughout the ACP: 9 senior experts and 48 analysts will reinforce ACP international trade administrations. In-country training of national counterparts will be the other large component of the €17 million programme financed by the European Development Fund under the EU-ACP Cotonou Agreement.

The trade experts will be largely recruited from ACP countries so as to counter the "brain-drain" of trade policy expertise, from which many developing countries suffer. By cooperating in this programme, the four institutions respond to increased demand for strengthening trade policy expertise of poor countries. European trade related assistance has picked-up considerably since the start of the WTO Doha Development Round and the negotiations of ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements. Today, more than 50 per cent of global trade related assistance is delivered by the EU and its Member States. Further EU trade programmes to strengthen the analytical and research capacities and to build institutional capacities in ACP countries are being launched soon and will complement the network of trade experts. The total amount for this comprehensive EU aid package, called Trade.Com, will be €50 million.


For more information:

EU-ACP trade:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/bilateral/regions/acp/index_en.htm

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