Brussels, 04/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Energy, access to water, rural development and the fight against climate change - there are many subjects on the list of priorities for cooperation between the EU and the Pacific. These topics will be the focus of a high-level bilateral meeting attended by Andris Piebalgs, European Development Commissioner, in Apia (Samoa) on 4 and 5 April. The meeting will give the commissioner and the representatives of the island states of this sub-region of the ACP Group (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific) the opportunity to sign a financing convention to improve access to drinking water and sanitation. The commissioner will visit several projects funded by the EU and while on the ground he will take stock of the efforts made to rebuild the region that was devastated by Cyclone Evan in December 2012.
Cooperation with the 15 Pacific States that are members of the ACP group (the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Timor-Leste) receive a regional allocation of €400 million for the period 2008-2013, under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). (AN/transl.jl)