Brussels, 19 January 2012/ ACP Newsdesk: The Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States, Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, has issued a message of congratulations and support to H. E. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, who recently began his second term as Secretary-General of the United Nations. 

18 January, 2012/ CDB/ Green Antilles: Member countries of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) will soon be able to access climate change adaptation funding through a new line of credit provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The CDB is to receive a Climate Action Line of Credit equivalent to EUR50 million, or approximately USD 65.3 million. 

World leaders and decision makers gathered in Busan, South Korea last month for the 4^th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness . More than 2000 delegates reviewed whether global development aid is meeting its aims of growing economies and easing poverty, and discussed how to set a new agenda for aid.

16 January 2012/ Worldandmedia.com: As the economic crisis deepens in Europe, reaching budget targets for overseas development is ambitious but realistic according to a spokeswoman for the bloc’s aid programmes.

“I can’t predict accurately, I don’t know what could happen …There will be a new graded co-operation so we won’t (always) provide direct aid,” Catherine Ray, spokesperson for the EU Commissioner for Development said. “But our aim is to make sure people see that increasing aid is not a luxury.”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 11 January 2011/ Defend.ht: After stops in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gabon, Tanzania), Europe (Denmark), in the Indian Ocean (Réunion) and the Pacific (Vanuatu), Haiti was chosen to host the next Music Festivals Network Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP).

Brussels, 11 January 2012/African Press Organization: The European Commission decided that starting from 2012, additional support to the tune of 110 MGHS (52 M€) will be given to Ghana to reduce maternal mortality and achieve the MDG 5 targets. This high quality project, has been selected because it aims to deliver concrete results by reducing maternal mortality and improving health care services.

Brussels, 18 December 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: ACP Secretary General Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas paid a courtesy call to the President of the Republic of Liberia Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, who was briefly in Brussels early in the week.

Harare, 18 December 2011/ The Standard: The Government of Zimbabwe says the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) regional grouping is dedicated to negotiating with the European Union (EU)’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that meet the expectations of member countries.

The EU recently issued a statement calling on countries that have not ratified and implemented the EPAs to do so. It warned that nations that fail to ratify the agreement will not benefit from market access to Europe from January 2014.

Suva, Fiji, 17 December 2011/ PIFS Press Release: Tonga’s Minister for Labour, Commerce and Industries and the Pacific ACP Lead Spokesperson, Hon. ‘Isileli Pulu on behalf of the Pacific ACP Group provided an update of the Pacific ACP Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations to the 94^th ACP Council of Ministers on Friday 9^th December 2011 in Brussels.