Brussels, 28 March 2019/ACP: The Republic of Chad will host the 4th Meeting of the ACP Ministerial Central Negotiating Group on 3 April, which will be followed by the 3rd Meeting of the ACP-EU Chief Negotiators on 4 April in the capital N’Djamena. This follows the offer by the Chadian authorities to host the meeting at the last ministerial meeting of the CNG held in the margins of the 108th session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, which was also chaired by Chad.
The delegations will be led by the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Robert DUSSEY, Chief Negotiator for the ACP and the Commissioner for Development, Neven MIMICA for the EU.
This decisive meeting is part of the negotiations for a new ACP-EU partnership agreement after 2020 and aims to assess the work done by the Central Negotiating Group at Ambassadorial level and to provide guidance on the remaining Common Base and regional protocols.
State of play on post-Cotonou negotiations:
28 September 2018
Launch of negotiations for a new Agreement between the ACP and the EU during the 1st ministerial meeting of ACP and EU Chief Negotiators in New York, USA. The Parties mandated their technical negotiating teams to define joint strategic priorities for the Foundation of the new Agreement as well as agree on the skeleton structure of the Foundation.
18 October 2018
Start of the first round of the technical negotiations in Brussels-Belgium.
14 December 2018
End of the 1st Round of the technical negotiations was concluded at the 2nd ministerial meeting of ACP and EU Chief Negotiators which took place in Brussels, Belgium. During the meeting, the two chief negotiators took stock of the progress achieved and called upon their technical negotiating teams to draft ACP and EU consolidated texts that will constitute the body of the Foundation, in accordance with the ACP negotiating mandate and the EU negotiating directives.
14 January 2019
Start of the second round of the technical negotiations in Brussels-Belgium
In fact, it is this second round of the technical negotiations that is expected to be concluded at the 3rd ministerial meeting of Chief Negotiators that will be held on 4 April 2019 in N’Djamena – Chad, with the subsequent launch of Round 3 for the negotiations on regional protocols.
The ACP looks forward to underlining the importance of global issues such as climate change, migration and mobility, gender equality, youth unemployment, peace and security. The sustainable integration of ACP countries into the world economy as well as the role of the ACP as a global player are also key aspects of the new agreement.