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Thursday, July 05, 2007

CTA, Euforic, launch Brussels Development Briefings

The ACP-EU technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the European Commission, the EU Presidency, the ACP Group, Euforic, Concord, and other partners plan to organise regular development briefing sessions in Brussels on key issues and challenges for rural development in the context of EU/ACP cooperation.

A growing number of challenges have an impact on the agricultural and rural sector of the ACP countries, including climate change, migration, low interest and funding of the agriculture sector and low priority to rural development, impact of globalization on small-scale producers, opportunities and challenges posed by biofuels...

These are other issues are being tackled by a range of development organizations (international, governmental, NGOs, networks) at national and regional levels in ACP and developing countries and in Europe. However, we believe that a more structured exchange of information and experience amongst the development community in Brussels would greatly strengthen these dispersed efforts, by enhancing communication, promoting coherence, and increasing collaboration and partnerships.

The target group of such briefings is the wider 'development' community in Brussels (EC services, European Parliament, NGOs and networks, ACP group, EU Member States representatives...)

The first briefing was held in Brussels on 4 July 2007. It focussed on key challenges to rural development: (1) the macro-economic environment and its impact on the rural poor in ACP countries; (2) the policy context, especially African regional integration processes, and (3) aid effectiveness and the harmonization of donor support directed towards rural issues in ACP countries.