MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2011

2012/C 145/02

Contents

MINUTES OF THE SITTING OF TUESDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2011

(The sitting opened at 09.00 a.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Assarid IMBARCAOUANE

Co-President

1.   Access to medicines

Debate without resolution

Speakers: Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Eleni Theocharous, Catherine Bearder, Rabindre Parmessar (Suriname), João Ferreira, Hamadaou Sylla (Mali), Patrick Gamedze (Swaziland), Véronique de Keyser, Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua (Ghana), Makhosini Hlongwane (Zimbabwe), Louis Michel, Attiat Mustafa Abdelhaleim Ahmed (Sudan), Adjedoue Weidou (Chad), Horst Schnellhardt, Musa Hussein Naib (Eritrea) and Domenico Rosa (European Commission).

Access to good quality, accessible and affordable medicines was crucial for everyone, particularly the peoples of the ACP countries, especially the most vulnerable. It would determine the well-being of those peoples and the achievement of the MDGs.

2.   Democratic governance

Main debate with Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, Prime Minister of Togo, and members of the Togolese Government.

Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, Prime Minister of Togo, made a presentation. The Assembly watched a film on democratic governance in Togo.

Speakers: Michèle Rivasi, Olle Schmidt, Boniface Yehouetome (Benin), Patrick Gamedze (Swaziland), Rajeshree Kumaree Nita Deerpalsing (Mauritius), Catherine Bearder, Alfred Sanou (Burkina Faso), Teshome Toga (Ethiopia), Benedict Noel (Grenada), Gabrielle Zimmer, Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Véronique de Keyser, Rabindre Parmessar (Suriname), Michael Gahler, Mohammed Mukhtar Ahmed (Nigeria), Musikari Kombo (Kenya), Ali Soubaneh Atteye (Djibouti), Ana Rita Geremias Sithole (Mozambique), Hamadaou Sylla (Mali), José Costa Pereira (EEAS), Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo, Pascal Bodjona (Minister for Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, Togo), Tchitchao Tchalim (Minister for Justice, Togo), Beza Marcel Seramila (Madagascar), Boniface Yehouetome (Benin), Mohammed Mukhtar Ahmed (Nigeria), Michèle Rivasi, Louis Michel and Seléagodi Ahoomey-Zunu (Minister for Commerce, Togo).

Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo and members of the Togolese Government responded to the questions.

Members of the Togolese Government explained the measures taken to promote political, economic and social governance in Togo, particularly with regard to the recommendations of the election observation mission for the 2010 presidential elections in Togo, as well as political and social dialogue.

3.   The development of multilateral relations and international justice

Debate without resolution

Speakers: Makhosini Hlongwane (Zimbabwe), Maurice Ponga, Véronique de Keyser, Denis Polisi (Rwanda), Olle Schmidt, Amadou Ciré Sall (Senegal), Michèle Rivasi, Hamadaou Sylla (Mali), João Ferreira, Jacek Protasiewicz, Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua (Ghana), Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Michael Gahler, Yenielys Vilma Regueiferos Linares (Cuba), Mohammed Mukhtar Ahmed (Nigeria), Ismail El Hag Musa (Sudan), Adjedoue Weidou (Chad) and José Costa Pereira (EEAS).

The members debated the coordination efforts that had been made in the past few years, with a view to developing multinational relations in the area of globalisation, which had an impact on international law and on international justice, as the entry into force of the Statute of the International Criminal Court had shown.

The Assembly approved the proposal by Louis Michel that item 15 of the minutes, ‘Challenges of urban development in towns in the ACP countries’, should be held over to the next session, which would take place in Denmark. The order of items in the minutes of the meeting of 23 November 2011 was adjusted accordingly.

(The sitting adjourned at 12.50 p.m. and resumed at 3.35 p.m.)

IN THE CHAIR: Louis MICHEL

Co-President

4.   Approval of the Minutes of Monday, 21 November 2011

The minutes were approved.

5.   Urgent topic No 1: The food crisis in the Horn of Africa, especially in Somalia

Speakers: José Costa Pereira (EEAS), Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Michèle Striffler, Musa Naib (Eritrea), Norbert Neuser, Catherine Bearder, Michèle Rivasi, Musikari N. Kombo (Kenya), Teshome Toga (Ethiopia), Gabriele Zimmer, Horst Schnellhardt, Younoussa Tondy (Niger), Edit Bauer and Domenico Rosa (European Commission).

In view of the worst food crisis in the past 60 years, the members of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly called on the international community to engage in a sustained humanitarian and development effort for the Horn of Africa, especially Somalia.

6.   The inclusion of persons with disabilities in developing countries

Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment

Co-rapporteurs: Musikari N. Kombo (Kenya) and Catherine Bearder

Musikari N. Kombo (Kenya) and Catherine Bearder presented the report on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in developing countries.

Speakers: Manuel Jímenez (Dominican Republic), Horst Schnellhardt, Ole Christensen, Gabriele Zimmer, Younoussa Tondy (Niger), Edit Bauer, Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua (Ghana), Ana Rita Geremias Sithole (Mozambique), Christa Klaß and Domenico Rosa (European Commission).

Musikari N. Kombo (Kenya) and Catherine Bearder wound up the debate.

Participants recalled that persons with disabilities were amongst the poorest in the world. They called upon all parties who had signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to fully implement Article 32 of the Convention.

7.   Impact of the Treaty of Lisbon on the ACP-EU Partnership

Committee on Political Affairs

Co-rapporteurs: Raphael Mangouala (Gabon) and Mariya Nedelcheva

Raphael Mangouala (Gabon) and Mariya Nedelcheva presented the report on the impact of the Treaty of Lisbon on the ACP-EU Partnership

Speakers: Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez, Ali Soubane Ateye (Djibouti), Olle Schmidt, Boniface Yehouetome (Benin), Piet Van Der Walt (Namibia), Filip Kaczmarek, João Ferreira, Rabindre T. Parmessar (Suriname), Maurice Ponga, Zuzana Roithova, Zita Gurmai, Emmanuel Kwasi Bandua (Ghana) and José Costa Pereira (EEAS).

Raphael Mangouala (Gabon) and Mariya Nedelcheva wound up the debate.

A general agreement was reached on the fact that it was essential for the ACP-EU partners to seize the opportunity for institutional ‘reorganisation’ that had arisen due to the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in order to bring fresh impetus to their partnership.

The Co-President was outraged at an attempt to circulate, in the assembly room, a defamatory note written by the Togo National Alliance for Change. The Assembly expressed its unreserved support for the Co-President.

Speakers: Bobbo Hamatoukour (Cameroon), Zita Gurmai and Evalliere Beauplan (Haiti).

The sitting adjourned at 6.00 p.m.