Executive summary
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ACP/28/012/06 Brussels, 13 February 2006 PAHD/AB/mjb Study on the Future of the ACP Group STUDY ON THE FUTURE OF THE ACP GROUP Compiled by: Babrius cc PO Box 315 Muizenberg 7945 South Africa Tel: ++27 21 788 7069 Fax: ++27 21 788 5616 e-mail: babrius2@mweb.co.za NOTE The contents and opinions expressed in this Study are those of the consultants and, as such do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the ACP Secretariat. The ACP Secretariat does not guarantee the accuracy of data included in this Study, and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequences of their use INDEX Page
The ACP Group : a paradigm shift 36
Cities & at conferences 58
Organs of the ACP Group 59
ORGANISATIONS 65
& other countries 65
to promote interests of members 66
& THE GEORGETOWN AGREEMENT 69 Introduction 69
Ambassadors 74
INDEX OF TABLES
Agreements 27
Dates 29
Countries 33
Growth 34
Into the EDF 45
Organisations / Groups 65
Agreement 73
INDEX OF ANNEXURES
INDEX OF ACRONYMS AAMS Associated African & Malagasy States ACP Africa Caribbean and Pacific Group of States AidCo Europe Aid Co-operation Office APEC Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation ASEAN Association of Southeastern Asian Nations AU African Union CARICOM Caribbean Community CARIFORUM Caribbean Forum CDE Centre for the Development of Enterprise CEMAC Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale CSP Country Support Paper CSS Country Support Strategy CTA Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development DCEC Instrument Issues paper for MEPs & Council on the Draft Regulation establishing a Financial Instrument for Development Cooperation & Economic Cooperation EAC East African Community ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EC European Commission EBA Everything But Arms EDF European Development Fund EEC European Economic Community EIB European Investment Bank EPA Economic Partnership Agreement EU European Union FAO Food & Agriculture Organisation FLEX Support for export fluctuations losses FTAA Free Trade Area of the Americas FTI Education for All Fast Track Initiative GATS General Agreement on Trade in Services GATT General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs GDP Gross Domestic Product GNI Gross National Income HIPCs Highly Indebted Poor Countries IBSA Group India, Brazil, South Africa Group ILO International Labour Organisation JAR Joint Annual Report JITAP Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme JPA Joint Parliamentary Assembly LDCs Least Developed Countries LLDCs Landlocked Least Developed Countries MEBF Mercosur-Europe Business Forum MEP Member of the European Parliament MERCOSUR Mercado Commun del Sur (“Common Market of the South” - S. America) MDGs Millennium Development Goals MTR Mid-term Review NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NAM Non-Aligned Movement NAO National Authorising Officer NIP National Indicative Programme NMS New Member States OAU Organisation of African Unity ODA Official Development Aid PMU Project Management Unit RAO Regional Authorising Officer RSS Regional Support Strategy RIOs Regional Integration Organisations SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary Regulations SADC Southern African Development Community STABEX Stabilisation of exchange losses SYSMIN Support for rehabilitation of mining industry SWOT Analysis Analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats TDCA Agreement on Trade, Development & Co-operation (SA-EU) TRIPS Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights UNCTAD UN Conference on Trade & Development UMEOA West African Economic & Monetary Union UNESCO United Nations Economic & Social Council VAT Value Added Tax WHO World Health Organisation WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation WTO World Trade Organisation STUDY ON THE FUTURE OF THE ACP
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The lead-up to this Study has been long according to all the sources the compilers of this Study consulted: on the one hand, Members and those well-disposed to the ACP Group have agonised about making the ACP Group more relevant, about the threats it faces and about its losing ground to other international organisations, while some predict its demise. The imminent, short-term and medium terms threats and dangers to which the ACP Group as a coherent body is exposed and which are addressed together with others in this Study, have been identified by those consulted and by the literature as the following:
and threats coming from:
which are analysed also as potential weaknesses in the SWOT analysis at the end of this Study. The origins of the ACP Group almost half a century ago and in its formalised state of three decades, wrapped the ACP Group in the cocoon of an agent for development. After Lomé IV it acquired a strongly political potential and with the Cotonou Partnership Agreement it is now conceived as an international organisation with developmental, political and economic pillars on which it stands. And yet, the well-wishers feel, the ACP Group is still affected by the original developmental restraint at a time when it can use the political and economic wings it has earned and acquired. There can be no doubt of the usefulness of the ACP Group to the European Union: it is a two-way street although it is not always seen that way. The ACP Group serves the interests of the EU in several not inconsiderable ways and this should be noted at the outset:
There are some voices raised (but few from among the Members themselves) who feel more sanguinely that the ACP Group has served its usefulness, that development funding from the EU can be generalised or globalised and the political and economic roles of the ACP Group can just as well be played by other international organisations and groupings. The thrust of this Study is to show that the hard-earned strengths of the ACP Group and the opportunities it is offered far outweigh the weaknesses it displays and are sturdy enough to withstand the challenges of globalisation. The ACP Group urgently wishes to make the quantum leap necessary to confront the new world it operates in: the boldness of its decisions as to how it reinvents itself will match the challenges of this unique body, or the largest North-South organised international development body will miss its rendezvous with history at this vital stage when much is expected of it. SUMMARY OF THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY In order to fulfil this mandate, the ACP Secretariat has engaged the services of Babrius cc to carry out a Study whose objectives are each covered in a chapter; the final chapter relates to the institutional changes required to streamline the organisation to meet the global paradigm shift the ACP Group is facing. These institutional changes go to making the ACP Group effective in dealing with its core business, expanding its relationship base internationally, seeking greater funding, making it politically relevant, using its critical mass and co-operating internally. The realisation that the ACP Group, although comprising the greatest number of Least Developed Countries, land-locked states and small islands has wider impact because of, and not in spite of, this Membership, as proved by the united action of the ACP Group at the 4th Doha Ministerial meeting, provides a platform for debate at a round-table of the main client for this Study, the Committee of Ambassadors. The assertion of the ACP Group’s political, economic and development relevance has already come from the Heads of State and Government. The Committee of Ambassadors will make the choice of the options available. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The ACP Group’s existence is guaranteed by the prolongation of the Lomé Conventions into the now-revised Cotonou Partnership Agreement. This renewed Agreement, in itself, brings with it an overtly political and economic role to the ACP Group.
The new political and economic roles of the ACP Group, which were presaged by Lomé IV, represent a major change in orientation that requires swift and adequate attention to the responsibilities undertaken by the Member States. These differences are illustrated in Table 5 below. Parallel with this, the European Commissioners for Trade and for Development have shifted their policies to:
The threat of these tumultuous occurrences is identified by the Heads of States and Governments who clearly see that the ACP has to reinvent itself in the same way that the OAU became the AU and the Commonwealth went through deep reforming processes. This Study is commissioned to give form to the responses and formulate the how and when. The rapidity and the extent of the response are given pro-actively and in the form of an ACTION PLAN and defined Recommendations provided at the end of this Study. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW This Study sets the stage by an examination of the institutional memory of the ACP Group which shortly covers the genesis of the ACP Group through five generations of conventions and agreements with the European Community and then European Union, the increasing size and orientation of the ACP Group and the successful accession of Anglophone and Lusophone Members, and traces the funding of development through the European Development Fund and the European Investment Bank. The important differences between the last two Agreements (Lomé Convention and the Cotonou Partnership Agreement) are clearly illustrated in Table 5. The Historical Overview provides Tables (2-5) on the membership of the EU and the ACP Group and briefly sets out:
The Historical Overview also presages the plans which the ACP Group can put afoot to play a global development role and use the not insignificant muscle represented by its numbers and organisational potential (see the Recommendations and ACTION PLAN at the end of the Study). SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3: NEW PARADIGM FOR THE ACP GROUP Chapter 3 recognises the new challenges of the ACP Group’s relations with its major partner, the European Union, and its developmental, political and economic dimensions as defined in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement:
TABLE 1 : AFRICA’S TRADE AS A % OF WORLD TRADE  Adapted from World Trade Organisation statistics
Just to take Africa’s position in world trade, we can see that it is small and dropping. The political question needs to be posed by the leaders of the biggest development organisation in the world, the ACP Group, whether in fact the new global scheme of things will ameliorate the trade and development relationship and this question needs to be posed directly to the Commissioner for Development. The thesis that trade leads to development requires further proof, especially where the countries on whom the thesis is being experimented have not the marketing, standardisation, transformation and transport capacity of their partners, and moreover start from a tiny base. The argument is put forward that the ACP Group is to be brought into the mainstream of world trade – this begs the question: are the Members not already in the mainstream but hamstrung in competing because of the distortions the developed world has created? Moreover, do these distortions make the ACP Group easy targets for the artificially cheap products which outstrip their own. This is a political question asked at Doha, but essential to repeat. This Study repeatedly recommends the political hierarchy ask the question why poverty has not been alleviated despite the inputs over decades. Some of the answers are known, but there are surely elements amiss, like subsidies in developed countries. The further question needs to be asked: why has the number of poor people in Africa (earning less than US$1 per day) doubled in the past 20 years?3 As a political international organisation representing the greatest number of LDCs, land-locked countries and small island states, this is clearly a battle the ACP Group engages in willingly and eagerly to promote the interests of its fragile Members. It can take up cudgels outside the confines of the EU and move this debate in the global forum of the concert of nations. However, it is observed in Chapter 2 that there is a noticeable improvement in disbursements since 2003 and one country visited for this Study had absorbed accumulated funds in a markedly improved way.
And as WTO rules take purchase on world trade,
* the development of diversification strategies for Members’ economies and the protection of value-added product transformation enterprises must form part of the negotiating process together with a reconsideration of Economic Partnership Agreements and must be linked by members to the negotiations with the World Trade Organisation in the Doha agenda – the WTO has provided for funding to build capacity in developing countries namely the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme9; * the overlapping and wasteful duplication of research into improving export products and marketing through Member countries needs to be rationalised, together with a closer relationship with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN through Observer Status while a real unifying role can be reserved for the other organ of the ACP Group, the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development, a key unifier in intra-ACP relations;
The scope of the examination of the issues at stake for the ACP Group on a political, developmental and economic/trade in Chapter 3 is to illustrate a few key areas in relations with the ACP Group’s partner in the Cotonou Agreement, the EU, and to make recommendations regarding the efficacy and determination to ensure the ACP Group’s relevance. This Study also underlines how the nature of a partnership can be distorted when one of the partners has changed course towards relaxing the previous special relationship and this Study makes recommendations to combat this. In some instances the EU appears to be going through the motions of keeping to its side of the bargain whereas the analysis tends to show that it is eager to cast the ACP Group in with all the other development strategies using phrases such as “at present the ACP are not in the mainstream of the Community’s development debate”11. This clear admission that the ACP Group has lost its priority status means that only by a clear and cohesive front towards the EU combined with a relevant role in the concert of nations, can the status be once again be attained. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4: INTRA –ACP RELATIONS AND COHESION This Study recommends the ACP Group look beyond the Cotonou Agreement for its future role in the concert of nations in the political sphere particularly. Planning starts now for the cementing of relations outside the EU because the ACP Group has historically carved out a position for itself which it can exploit, but the critical mass it has built up requires a serious effort of togetherness in the reinvention of its role as it breaks out of the developmental cocoon. In Chapter 4, this Study examines Intra-ACP Relations and Cohesion as a prerequisite to making joint action possible for efficiency, visibility, political relevance, regional development and protection of the interests of the ACP Group in the new global context. This is a constant desire expressed by the Heads of State and Government of the ACP Group because the leaders realise that the ACP Group is a potential vehicle for the developing world and that the vehicle is powerful despite the fact that the Members are of the most deprived states on earth. In the area of Culture, success has been noted, but this Study recommends it be taken further so that the promotion of music, publishing, writing and art leads to enrichment of the poor. At present, joint activities of the ACP Group centre mainly around Brussels, and, it is to be hoped, in Geneva with the new satellite office. However, the ACP Group has a tool at hand to make joint action and solidarity continuous and effective through the diplomatic offices of the majority of ACP members in other capitals where joint actions can take place or initiated – cost-free. This Study recommends ACP interests can be promoted in meetings, as EC Delegates’ meetings do, at the UN, London, New York, Washington, Paris, FAO/Rome, Addis, Dakar, Pretoria, Tokyo, Geneva. The Council of Ministers of the ACP Group decided in November 2004 to hold meetings of ACP organs outside Brussels with the host country as sponsor12. There is a plethora of overlapping international organisations and groupings, like the AU and the Group of 90 – reinvigorating the vehicle of the ACP to show its value, as a confirmed desire by the Heads of State and Government, makes it a powerful instrument in the era of globalisation. At International Conferences and at international bodies, this Study recommends prior ACP caucusing as the order of the day and feedback provided to the Secretariat. The expertise of the Centre for Development of Enterprise (CDE) and the Technical Centre for Agriculture (CTA) can validly be sought where appropriate as well as that of the European Investment Bank. Some successes must be noted and should be emulated: the joint position adopted at Doha in 2001 (4th WTO Ministerial Meeting) and the joint position taken with the Group of 90 at the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting at Cancún in 2003 and the statement by the President in Office at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002. But the fact that separate submissions by the Africa Group, Ghana and Belize to the World Intellectual Property Organisation on the disclosure of Traditional Knowledge and sources of genetic material shows how the Group fails to show solidarity and weakens the position of all. (See Article 46 of the Cotonou Agreement). Closely linked with the intellectual property benefits which the developed world obtains from ACP Group States’ genetic plant material (recognised by the CDE as a prime element in development strategies), is the benefit it reaps from the use of ACP Group skilled immigrants as shown by a recent report specifically commissioned by the ACP Group on ACP citizens’ immigration to the EU – the use of ACP citizens’ brainpower and skills (particularly nurses and doctors) after training in their home countries, cries out for compensation to those countries that paid for the training. Joint petitioning is essential in this representation to the developed countries and the EU especially in the form of the Commissioner Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, and the help of the ILO needs to be sought to make this a real issue on the table for the standing committee of the Committee of Ambassadors for Social Affairs and Environment. Besides sectoral Ministerial meetings (e.g. Ministers of Culture and the Cape Town meeting on Science and Research in 2002), this Study recommends heavy emphasis on trade and investment jointly in seminars and workshops to be organised by the Forum predicated by the Santo Domingo Declaration, together with the CDE so that a window can be opened to joint tropical trade: this needs also to be extended to joint tourism initiatives (See Article 24 of the Cotonou Agreement and CDE literature) which can also lead to opening up of better transport links and national airlines and shipping lines/passenger lines be included in the conferences. The recent meeting of the African Ministers of Air Transport 17 - 19 May 2005 shows the way of combining to create links, but here again the ACP Group was not present though the African Airlines Association was13. Businessmen and project developers in mega terms like the Inge Dam, the Trans-Africa Highway, IT, call centres & telephone links (See Article 43 of the Cotonou Agreement) between the regions need to be awoken to what can be tackled together and included in Country Support Strategies in planning for National Indicative Programmes. This should include validly seeking development support at a regional level to ensure water provision and energy in the medium term from a mega project like the Inge Dam through proper regional application of funds from the additional €250m for the Energy Facility (EU Energy Initiative) and also the additional €250m for the Water Facility. EU New Member States can figure prominently in seminars, conferences and workshops together with the two organs of the ACP Group, the CDE and the CTA. These practical issues make it possible for planning for intra-ACP actions to follow up on spin-offs from large dams, energy networks and new transport facilities. This Study also supports follow-up to the Conference of Culture Ministers by events which can be income-generating in music, TV and film and forming a special section in the Secretariat to make it happen. Because the political context has been made paramount in the Cotonou Agreement, ACP Group Parliamentarians need to play an increasing role in influencing their European colleagues on ACP Group developments: the political will of the leaders of ACP States must lead to a significant presence of ACP Parliamentarians at the Joint Assembly and this Study recommends only Parliamentarians should be permitted to speak and officials be excluded from participating in the debates. The decision in Bamako to bring about the ACP Parliamentary Assembly represents a step of potentially great importance if this instrument can be put to work to protect the interest of the ACP Group States. The key Bamako resolutions on post conflict rehabilitation, budgetisation, the Millennium Development Goals for education, the presence of Commissioners Mandelson and Michel at the JPA in Bamako (16-21 April 2005) and the debate on EPAs show how a united front can help progress in areas of concern for developing countries and the ACP Group’s role in particular. The reticence shown till now about criticism for Member States who infringe the ACP Group’s declared objectives of democracy, transparency and respect for human rights have to cease to ensure ACP Group international credibility. The fact that the Joint Parliamentary Assembly debated Sudan and the African Great Lakes region also show a renewed maturity in the ACP Group. Impediments to the increase of ACP trade, namely non-tariff barriers and Rules of Origin, recognised as an impediment by the Joint Technical Committee which monitors the Economic Partnership Agreements, and also recognised as such in the Cotonou Agreement (Art 37(9)) need urgently to be revisited. In-depth re-examination can form a major part of the negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements regionally as little seems to be happening in this respect. The major duplication which takes place in research on tropical food production and improvement, veterinary issues, disease and agricultural development needs to be eliminated to allow better use of ACP Group resources together with its link to the FAO of the UN and its local representative; similar arguments are relevant on University Education where the duplication of expensive and unproductive faculties in regions where previously a reference university existed – the Universities of the West Indies, Dakar, Makerere and Maseru for example. Conferences of Education, Science & Technology, Health, Communications & Transport Ministers as planned by the ACP Secretariat must be proceeded with together with operators, educators, private firms in the sectors (particularly private telephone service providers and businesses improving productivity and endurance of foodstuffs – pineapples, bananas, coir, mangoes, NERICA rice etc.) together with the expertise of the FAO and the ACP organs, the CDE and the CTA. Special project funding can be sought from the FAO. Finally, the political leaders need to show more than their verbal support for the ACP Group as a preferred international political vehicle by ensuring their presence at Heads of State and Government Summits and at Council of Ministers Meetings while the Secretariat needs to play its role by organising well in advance, lobbying for participation at the highest level and ensuring proposals for practical application of decisions. In Chapter 4, the essential platform for a role in the concert of nations and beyond the Cotonou Agreement, is at the centre of all debate and that platform can only be solid if the Members’ leaders acknowledge consciously and consistently that the ACP Group is the vehicle of choice. Sub-Saharan Africa can count on two regions outside the continent to support it as a matter of course, namely the Caribbean and Pacific regions. Their entry into the equation appears to be underestimated. Political, trade and development issues are mainly addressed through the African Union. For additional political weight, there are two uncontested partners to add numbers and new insights into political issues for the developing world, as well as combined efforts for trade, tourism, services, investment and research. The central role played by Africa in EU thinking on development can go in other directions to spread through intra-ACP unity into the other two world regions to mutual benefit. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 5: FORGING RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES AND ORGANISATIONS In Chapter 5, this Study looks at the political function of the ACP Group on the world stage by recommendations relating to the perennial demand by the Heads of State and Government for outreach to other countries outside the ACP and to organisations which can co-operate in protecting ACP Group members’ interests: “Is there life outside of the Cotonou Agreement?” An essential break with the past is necessary as the EU makes moves to generalise development grants without cognisance of the ACP Group’s past special position in the gamut of external relations. The number of overlapping and competing international organisations receives attention (See Annexes “M” and “N”) with a table of the confusing jurisdictions. The ACP Group loses its identity and leaders tend to neglect the ACP Group as an available and suitable vehicle to attain political, developmental and trade ends and to prefer, consciously or unconsciously, other bodies. This Study recommends the ACP group assert itself through a visibility matched by a change in its name to reflect its independent activity while maintaining its tradition, so that its political action gives it credibility in the concert of nations. The ACP Group has acquired formal relationships with the international organisations where the ACP Group can act as a team and solicit further funding: OECD, UNCTAD, WHO, WIPO, but this Study recommends a widening of that net to include the African Union, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, World Food Programme – all relevant to the ACP Group Members’ interests. As far as Intellectual Property is concerned, immediate steps need to be taken to see how compensation for genetic sources and Traditional Knowledge for Members, especially, can be ensured. The presence of an office in Geneva gives the ACP Group a head start with the WTO, the WHO and WIPO, but this Study recommends that the Committee of Ambassadors form a sub-committee on Foreign Relations; and further recommends that ACP Group through the Geneva representative with already existing resources and personnel promote the ACP Group as vehicle and network for co-ordinating agent for general programmes, like that of the G8 for Africa. It should make use of the UN Observer Status in two ways:
The help and personnel support provided to the ACP Secretariat by the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie and the Commonwealth are examples of collaborative effort. This Study recommends lobbying together by all ACP members in international groupings where ACP Members are present (like NAM and the Group of 90) to use effectively the strength of numbers. As far as other countries are concerned, the alliances some of which have already started should be divided in two:
This Study recommends the powers given to the institutions of the ACP Group be expanded to carry out the task such as a sub-committee on foreign relations in the Committee of Ambassadors and a defined role for the Secretary General. This Chapter gives form to the mandate of the Summits of Heads of State and Government to form relations with other states (named particularly in the Santo Domingo Declaration but repeated in the Nadi Declaration) and to form alliances with other organisations. This Study recommends efforts of solidarity with groupings of which Members form part to lend power to joint actions in favour of the developing world. In Chapter 6, the very foundation for these actions, namely the institutions of the ACP Group, receives attention to streamline and modernise the activities to prepare for the existence of independence of action: the revision of the founding document of the ACP Group, the Georgetown Agreement. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 6: INSTITUTIONS AND STRUCTURES OF THE ACP GROUP AND THE GEORGETOWN AGREEMENT In Chapter 6 recommendations are made regarding the golden thread that runs through all of the above proposed significant initiatives and innovations the ACP Group is in a position to or could take to meet the requirements of the Declarations of the Summits of Heads of State and Government, viz. the streamlining, empowering and updating of the institutions and organs of the ACP Group and its Secretariat. This means a revision of the Georgetown Agreement, the founding document of the ACP Group. The steps which the Study recommends the ACP Group take to promote its members’ interests and to ward off the very real risks and threats to the future of the Group include:
To put into effect the political will expressed by Heads of State and Government to expand the scope of the ACP Group, greater financial contributions from Members to Secretariat budgets are proposed and these contributions should be seen in conjunction with recommendations for the use of available budgets of the WTO (JITAP), the FAO and individual states. There are suggestions concerning income generated from cultural events. RECOMMENDATIONS AND THE ACTION PLAN The Recommendations are condensed into a readily applied ACTION PLAN which is a roadmap for the ACP Group to reinvent itself and make itself relevant. SWOT ANALYSIS Finally, a Table examines the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT Analysis) of the ACP Countries Group. -o0o-
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