DRAFT DECISION ON ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
WORLD SOLIDARITY FUND
Council:
RECALLS Decision AHG/Decl.4 (XXXVI) supporting the appeal made by H.E. Mr. Zine El Abidine BEN ALI, President of the Republic of Tunisia for the establishment of a World Solidarity Fund;
ALSO RECALLS Decision CM/Dec.570 (LXXIII) inviting Member States as well as African Organizations and institutions to transmit to the United Nations Secretary General their positive and concrete proposals concerning the establishment of a World Solidarity Fund;
RECOGNIZES the important role of the World Solidarity Fund in the realization of the objectives set by the International Community in the Declaration adopted by the Millennium Summit “to reduce by half, by the year 2015, the percentage of the world population whose income is below one dollar a day and that of people suffering from hunger ...”;
UNDERSCORES the importance of the consultations by the United Nations Secretary General pursuant to paragraph 14 of the UN General Assembly Resolution 55/210 to enlist the views of countries as well as regional and international organizations and institutions on the establishment of a World Solidarity Fund and COMMENDS Member Countries and African Organizations and institutions on the responses received to date;
TAKES NOTE OF the importance accorded by the Millennium Declaration to solidarity as a fundamental value in international relations in the twenty-first century, bearing in mind the voluntary nature of contributions to this Fund;
CALLS ON Member Countries which have not yet responded positively to the letter of the United Nations Secretary General to do so as soon as possible, as a further demonstration of the interest of the countries of our Continent in this Fund as an instrument to combat poverty by the International Community;
CALLS ON the United Nations Secretary General to lend his personal support towards the establishment of the Fund to enable it to become operational as soon as possible;
APPEALS to all Member States of the United Nations and international organizations to contribute to the realization of this noble initiative;
REQUESTS the Current Chairman of the Assembly to seize the United Nations Secretary General of this Decision as the common position of Member States of the Organization of African Unity within the framework of the consultations held in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 14 of the United Nations Resolution 55/210;
CALLS ON the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity to monitor the progress made in this matter and initiate the necessary contacts for the implementation of this Decision during consideration of the report of the Secretary General by the United Nations General Assembly
DECISION ON THE ACP/EU NEGOTIATIONS
Council:
TAKES NOTE that negotiations of WTO-compatible Trade Arrangements under the Cotonou ACP-EC Partnership Agreement is scheduled to be launched in September, 2002 and that the ACP Ministerial Committee on Trade has been established and has begun its work;
URGES all Member States which are members of the ACP Group and which have not yet done so, to take the necessary steps to ratify the ACP/EC Cotonou Partnership Agreement; and CALLS on all EU States to do likewise;
DIRECTS the OAU Panel of Experts, working in close consultation with the African Ambassadors in Brussels, to provide an analysis of the various options of Trade Arrangements for the consideration of Member States, with emphasis on the issue of geographical configuration and other issues envisaged for negotiations under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement with the EU, taking into account the objectives of the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community and the Constitutive Act of the African Union;
CALLS on all eligible member States and regional groupings and organizations to submit requests to the ACP Secretariat for financial assistance in preparation for the forthcoming ACP/EU and WTO negotiations.