Communiqué on EU development policy

At their informal meeting at the Petersberg near Bonn in March, the EU development ministers adopted a communiqué that reaffirms development as a central goal in itself. In many regions of the world, European development policy has become a defining component of wider European external relations, the paper states. It names human rights, equal rights for men and women, health, education, peace and security, good governance and environmental protection as the important fields of cooperation with developing countries. The ministers reaffirmed the goal to increase development assistance to 0.56% of the gross domestic product by 2010. Furthermore, they want to improve the division of labour in EU development policy. Peter Mandelson, EU Trade Commissioner, declared at the meeting that the EU stands by the implementation of new regulations for trading relations with the ACP countries by the end of the year. In some ACP regions, the tempo of the negotiations over the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) that are being aimed for must be stepped up considerably. Mandelson admitted, however, that there will be transition periods of several years or even decades (see also p. 173). (ell)