OREANDA-NEWS. November 27, 2015. European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica and the President of the Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states, Mrs. Mpeo Mahase-Moiloa, signed off on €3.6 billion to finance the intra-ACP program, under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) (the EU's financial instrument for ACP countries). The money will provide support in the areas of human and social development, environment and climate change, private sector development and peace and security across African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. 

At the signing ceremony, Commissioner Mimica said: “Today's signature lays down the priorities for our joint work until 2020. The 11th EDF intra-ACP program amounts to €3.6 billon, a 25 % increase compared to the 10th EDF. It reflects our common vision of the dynamics at stake at national and regional levels. More than a third of these resources will be devoted to human and social development."

The money announced today will be channelled to four key sectors:

  • Human and social development to contribute to ensuring healthy lives and inclusive and equitable quality education

  • Environment, climate change and resilience building, providing significant means to reach the targets that are expected to be set during the 2015 Paris Climate Conference to face the challenge of global warming

  • Private sector development, with the aim of contributing to achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, creating decent jobs and reducing poverty

  • Peace and security, providing substantial and predictable funding to the African Union's and African Regional Economic Communities' efforts in the area of peace and security.

Background

The Intra-ACP programme is the cornerstone of broader cooperation between the European Union and the ACP group of States. The programme aims to address the shared challenges facing ACP States. It supports operations that go beyond the concept of geographic location and benefit many or all ACP States. Intra-ACP action is envisaged when national and/or regional efforts proveimpossible or less effective, so as to provide added value in comparison to the operations carried out with other national and/or regional cooperation instruments.

The European Commission and the European External Action Service launched the preparation of the Indicative Programme for intra-ACP cooperation to define the strategy and priorities for EU aid. This preparation work was carried out in close cooperation with the ACP Committee of Ambassadors and the ACP Secretariat so as to ensure that the Indicative Programme contributes to the objectives set out in the ACP-EC Partnership.

In 2013, EU Member States agreed on the overall amount for development cooperation that will be channelled individually to 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, as well as to the ACP regions and to intra-ACP cooperation through the 11th European Development Fund EDF during the financing period 2014-2020, with a total amount of €30.5 billion.