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.