Upcoming Events
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Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference
13-18 December 2005, Hong Kong

For more information, see the WTO website.

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Agriculture and Fisheries Council Meeting
19-21 December 2005, Brussels

For more information, see the UK Presidency of the EU website.

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Recent Past Events

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22-26 September 2005

9th ACP Special Ministerial Conference on Sugar: "Promoting the Sustainable Development of the ACP Sugar Sector"

Ministers representing the ACP States signatory to the EU-ACP Sugar Protocol and the LDC sugar supplying states under the EBA initiative met in Kisumu, Kenya, to discuss strategies for promoting the sustainable development of their sugar industries, in particular in the light of the European Commission's radical proposals to reform the EU Sugar Regime.

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19 September 2005
Meeting of ACP/LDC Ministerial delegation with European Commission and EU Agriculture Ministers

During a meeting in the Council of Ministers, the Mauritian Agriculture Minister was joined by colleagues from Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Malawi, Sudan and Swaziland, some of the countries which would be hit severely by the Commission's proposed reform of the EU sugar regime.

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13 July 2005
ACP representatives address MEPs during a European Parliament hearing on European Commission proposals to reform the Sugar Regime

The Agriculture Minister of Mauritius, Arvin Boolell, and Ambassador Derrick Heaven, Executive Chairman of the Jamaican Sugar Industry Authority, addressed MEPs during a European Parliament hearing on European Commission proposals to slash sugar prices by 39% over a period of only four years starting in 2006.

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22 June 2005

ACP Group of States, LDC (Least Developed Country), Oxfam and WWF press conference on EU sugar reform

In the context of the European Commission proposals on Wednesday 22 June to reform the Common Market Organisation for sugar, a press conference was organised in Brussels during which the ACP, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Oxfam and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) briefed the media on their position. The proposal envisages dramatic reductions in EU prices and the disappearance of the system of national quotas. The provisions of the Commission’s reform proposal will have a devastating impact on ACP and LDC sugar production with disastrous socio-economic consequences in many countries.

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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) and Minister Gelal Yousiff Eldegeir (Sudan), 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. 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, 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.

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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