Brussels, 09/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The group of ACP States (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) linked to the EU by the Cotonou Agreement, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in Brussels on Tuesday. This commemoration celebrates the signature of the group's founding act (the Georgetown agreement signed on 6 June 1975 in Guyana). Sir John Kaputin, Secretary General of the ACP Group, paid tribute to the singularity and the constancy of ACP/EU cooperation which “invented a new kind of relationship between rich and poor countries” founded on “solidarity, partnership and commitment”. Evoking the successive improvements in this cooperation since the first Lomé Convention (1975) till the Cotonou Agreement signed for 20 years on 13 June 2000, the ACP secretary general welcomed in this agreement on development partnership the responses that it provides to the basic concerns of the ACP countries in a globalised world. In a message of congratulation addressed to the ACP group, Louis Michel, Development Commissioner, called for a continuation of this “fruitful partnership with a crucial partner in the developing world”.
Just a few days from the ceremony for the signing of the revised Cotonou Agreement, to be held on 24 June in Luxembourg during a ministerial session bringing 78 ACP countries together (all except Cuba, which is not a signatory of the agreement) and the 25 EU Member States, the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU Council restated is “firm determination” to pursue with the Group of ACP States sound and lasting partnership relations to the service of development.