Brussels, 29/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - The work of the Development Council on Tuesday in Luxembourg was welcomed by its president Tom Kitt as an important step towards a more effective contribution from the Union to the eradication of poverty in the world. As well as conclusions adopted on the follow-up to the Monterrey process on the increase of public aid for development and its better use (EUROPE 28 April p 11), the Council granted the Commission a mandate for negotiating the five-yearly revision of the Cotonou agreement with ACP countries. Ministers also outlined action plan modalities proposed by the Commission for countries that are highly dependent on basis products, such as African cotton producers. The Council also laid the foundation for an active EU participation in the UN's next conferences on development, in compliance with the leading role the Union hopes to play. The main results are as follows:
Capital goods/cotton: the Council adopted conclusions recognising the crucial importance of capital agricultural products for reducing poverty and welcomed the action plan of Commissioners Poul Nielson and Pascal Lamy (EUROPE 13 February p 8) and is calling on the Community and Member States to implement the EU/Africa partnership for cotton, without neglecting the need for financial resources.
Revision of the Cotonou agreement: the Council approved the detailed mandate for the Commission to negotiate the revision that will begin at the ACP/EU Council of Ministers on 6-7 May in Gaborone (Botswana). French reservations involving the increased flexibility in the allocation of financial resources to each country were raised again, explaining that this modification aimed to respond to the new needs of ACP countries. Divisions between delegations on the insertion in the draft agreement of a clause on the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (some wanted the clause to be inserted into the essential elements of the agreements and other were opposed because of the link this would establish between the suspension clause in the case of non respect of one or several essential elements): the Council granted a mandate to the Commission to negotiate on the basis of the General Affairs/External Relations Council of November involving the clause in all agreements with third countries and of returning to this for outlining the modalities once the reaction of ACP countries was known.
Attaining the millennium development objectives: Council structures underline the importance of the assessment exercise for the performances of EU Member States according to a single format. The Commission is called on to begin this exercise on the basis of national harmonised reports focusing on the increase of ODA, coherency, trade and debt. It will have to report to it in November and submit its synthesis report for adoption before April 2005, in order to guarantee a contribution of EU quality to the progress review that the UN will be producing at a world level.
Next UN conferences: the Council was informed of ongoing preparations for the Trade and Development Conference (13-20 June in Sao Paolo), the conference on the small developing island countries (30 August-3 September in Mauritius) the world information society summit (November 2005 in Tunisia). Ministers underlined the opportunity offered to the enlarged EU to use its weight and influence for promoting research in for multilateral responses to global challenges.
Reform of external aid management: ministers held a brief exchange of views on progress (Commission report was already the subject of conclusions on 26 January). They underlined the importance they placed on development policy objectives being reflected entirely in any revision of future institutional agreements on EU foreign policy.