Delegation for ACP-EU Assembly leaves for France

Accra (Greater Accra), 26 March '99 -

A four-member government delegation led by Mr Emmanuel Baah-Danquah, Member of Parliament for Asutifi North, yesterday left for Strasbourg, France, to attend the 28th session of the African- Caribbean-Pacific (ACP)-European Union(EU) joint assembly. Mr Baah-Danquah told newsmen at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra before departure last night that Ghana would present a paper on climate change and its effect on production and poverty eradication. Items to be discussed at the four-day meeting include regional co-operation and integration between member-states, future of the Lome Convention, and the effect of climate change on small island states. The current Lome Convention, which was revised in 1995, would expire in 2000 and negotiations for a new convention will be based on a "Green Paper on relations between the EU and the ACP countries on the eve of the 21st century" published before the Libreville Declaration, he said. Mr Baah-Danquah noted that ACP states in the Libreville Declaration also reaffirmed their commitment to the values of democracy, good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights. He hoped that the session would, among other things, enhance the successes so far chalked and address the challenges of economic globalisation.