Brussels, 09/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - Roy Mickey Joy, Vanuatu's ambassador to the European Union, has since 1 February taken on the rotating presidency of the Committee of ambassadors of the group of 79 ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) states linked to the European Union through the Cotonou Agreement.
Development funding, “especially as part of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) in the process of finalisation at the European level”, and also at the international level, ahead of the UN conference in Addis Ababa in July, will be “one of the essential issues” that the committee of ambassadors will have to manage, said the incoming president, in Brussels on Friday 6 February.
Preparing for the continuation of the UN talks on the world programme for the eradication of poverty and sustainable development post-2105 (see EUROPE 11247) and the Paris climate conference (COP 21, December 2015), are among the other priorities that he mentioned. The fight against climate change is a major challenge for Vanuatu, as for all the small island states of the Pacific.
Heading one of the main decision-making organs of the group, Roy Mickey Joy will cooperate with Patrick I. Gomes, the current ambassador of Guyana to the European Union, who will take up his role as ACP Group secretary general on 1 March 2015 for five years until the Cotonou Agreement expires in 2020 (see EUROPE 11216). (Aminata Niang)