The 79th session of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Council of Ministers met from 3-5 May 2004 in Gaborone, Botswana, to discuss, inter alia, the review of the Cotonou Agreement and the Group’s post-Cancun WTO strategy.

This session was followed by the 29th session of the ACP/EU Council of Ministers, which met from 6-7 May to consider among other things HIV/AIDS and the impact of EU enlargement on the ACP countries. The ACP Council of Ministers is the Group’s main decision making body and the supreme body responsible for implementing the guidelines established by the ACP Summit, the next of which will be held in June in Maputo.
During the session, the ACP Council of Ministers took decisions and adopted resolutions on: the review of the Cotonou Agreement, approving a time-frame and negotiating structure for the review process, which would be focused on poverty reduction; ongoing WTO talks, agreeing to convene meetings in June and July to further consider a strategy to better defend trade interests; urging the EU to undertake the reduction of cotton export subsidies with the view to eliminating all forms of cotton subsidies; securing preferences for rice, sugar and bananas; and access to affordable medicines.
The ACP/EU Council of Ministers meeting discussed the impact of HIV/AIDS and global governance and instruments to respond to the epidemic. The Council also considered how EU enlargement would affect ACP countries, particularly regarding the impact on aid and trade preferences ACP countries currently enjoy. The Council took decisions and resolutions on, inter alia: the review of the Cotonou Agreement and the second phase of the Economic Partnership Agreement; a joint ACP-EU project on combating drought and desertification; and water sector financing. More information is available at: http://www.acpsec.org/gaborone/gaborone-en.htm