Recent Events

....................................................................................................................................................

24 January 2005

Meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers, Ministers from ACP and LDC countries and Members of the European Commission

An ACP/LDC ministerial declaration led by Minister Nandcoomar Bodha (Mauritius) (ACP Ministerial Spokesman) and Minister Gelal Yousiff Eldegeir (Sudan) (LDC Ministerial Spokesman), met with EU-25 Agriculture Ministers and Commissioners Marian Fisher-Boel (Agriculture), Peter Mandelson (Trade) and Louis Michel (Development) in the margins of the EU Agriculture Council at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels. The Commission representatives presented the ACP ministers with an Action Plan to accompany the proposed reforms to the EU sugar regime, and five ACP and LDC ministers and the Chairman of the LDC London Sugar Group, Mr Graham Clark, responded with statements to the EU25 ministers. The meeting concluded with a commitment to maintain dialogue after the Commission's legal proposals are submitted, and the meeting was followed by a press conference.

Copies of the statements made by the ACP and LDC representativesmay be downloaded here:

ACP ministerial spokesman on Historical and Political Aspects
Minister Mabili Dlamini (Swaziland) on Legal Aspects
Minister Clement Rohee (Guyana) on Trade Dimensions
Minister Roger Clark (Jamaica) on Socio-Economic Aspects
LDC ministerial spokesman on the LDC proposal on sugar
Mr Graham Clark, Chairman, LDC London Sugar Group on technical aspects

Further information from the Luxembourg presidency, including video footage of the ensuing press conference, can be obtained here.

...................................................................................................................................................

For further information, please contact:

Giles Keane
Tel: +32 (0) 473 894 328
E-mail: gkeane@hillandknowlton.com

Mari Helen Skarholt
Tel: +32 (0) 479 980 770
E-mail: mhskarho@hillandknowlton.com