The 7th Summit of the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) will be holding in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo from 13-14 December 2012 on the theme: “The Future of the ACP in a Changing World: Challenges and Opportunities.” ACP-EU Group is a partnership organisation that is made up of a number of countries from Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands as well as the European Union with the aim of fostering economic, political and social development among member countries both at the bilateral and multilateral levels.
Created on 6 June 1975 the ACP-EU Group held its first ever summit of Heads of State and government in Libreville, Gabon from 6-7 November 1997. In 1999, a second summit held in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
However, problems set in with the transformation that the European community was facing as far as trade links with most developing countries was concerned. Thus, by 2002, the 3rd Summit held in Nadir, Fiji while the 4th took place in Maputo, Mozambique in 2004 and the 5th in Khartoum, Sudan in 2006. The last one was in Accra, Ghana from 2-3 October 2008.
Each of the Heads of State and government Summits of the ACP-EU have globally focused on the state of relations between ACP countries and the European Union, in general and in particular the development situation within ACP states while defining a framework for all actions by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers.
Ahead of Thursday’s Summit, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers began meeting in Malabo yesterday 10 December and will end tomorrow 12 December 2012. Cameroon which is benefiting from ACP-EU activities through the European Development Fund which is commonly known in French as FED (Fonds européen de development) is actively present in Malabo for the Council of Ministers’ meeting. The Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Emmanuel Nganou Dloumessi is leading Cameroon’s delegation at the meeting with Cameroon’s Ambassador to Brussels, Daniel Evina Abe’e also participating.
The Heads of State’s Summit is the highest decision-making body of the ACP-EU Group. It meets to examine proposals by the Council of Ministers which has under its structure the Committee of Ambassadors followed by the General Secretariat before the last organ of the group which is the General Assembly. The current Secretary General of the ACP-EU Group is Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas of Ghanaian nationality while Cameroon is also present in the management structure through Achille Bassiliken III who holds the post of Under Secretary in charge of Trade and Sustainable Development.
