Brussels, 11/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - Patrick I. Gomes, currently Guyana's ambassador to the European Union and most senior of the ACP ambassadors in Brussels, is to be the new secretary general of the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) Group of States for the 2015-2020 period.
The ACP Council of Ministers, meeting in Brussels on Wednesday 10 December for its 100th session, appointed Gomes by consensus (see EUROPE 11203 and 11209). Gomes will take office on 1 March, taking over from Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, for a five year mandate. The end of his mandate will coincide with the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement concluded in 2000 between the EU and the ACP for 20 years.
Gomes has committed to serving the “objectives of the Georgetown Agreement” which founded the ACP Group in 1975 in order to “ensure tangible benefits to the people of our member states”. At this turning point of the partnership for development between the EU and the ACP countries, Gomes called on the ACP Group to look forwards, and to ensure renewed solidarity that is adapted to the new international climate.
“Our solidarity and unity must take more account of the dynamic changes in our regions and ensure complementarity and coherence… With a promise of strategic and focused action, let us together rejuvenate, reposition and reinvent this unique and great organisation, the ACP Group of States”, he said, honoured to take on the role entrusted him.
Gomes is the chairman of the working group on future perspectives of the ACP Group, which will submit its final report on transforming the ACP Group into a global player to the ACP Council of Ministers. The 100th session of the ACP Council of Ministers comes to an end on Friday 12 December. (AN)