European Union " "
Representatives of the Parliaments of the 77 States of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and of the European Parliament took part in the third session of the joint ACP-EU parliamentary Assembly in Brussels from 29 October to 1 November. Corrie, British co-President of the Assembly, stressed the growing political role of the joint Assembly, in particular following the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September, and also recalled that the dialogue of the ACP countries with Europe must be founded on respect for the two fundamental principles at the basis of cooperation in the framework of the accord of Cotonou, capital of Benin, signed in June 2000, namely toleration and conflict prevention. Corrie also reaffirmed the joint commitment to the reduction of poverty, an objective to be pursued through a growing redistribution of finances to health care and education, but also by a greater commitment to “wealth creating” sectors such as agriculture, commerce, economic deregulation and privatization. It was announced that the Council of the Ministers of Development scheduled for 8 November will take concrete decisions in the fields of the fight against poverty, equality between the sexes, biodiversiy and education in development, taking steps to “guarantee coherence” to EU policies in the field of cooperation in development.
