Mobilise the national resources of developing countries, says ACP-EU Assembly Vice-President Patrice Tirolien
"Development financing must be centred on the mobilisation of national resources so as to promote endogenous development," said Patrice Tirolien (S&D, FR), Vice-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), at the opening ceremony of its 26th session on 25 November in Addis Ababa. He stressed that this must respect the fiscal arrangements of the countries concerned.
National fiscal capacities must be strengthened and measures taken to curb illicit flows of finance, which are a major obstacle to the development of many countries, said Mr Tirolien. He stressed that the transparency and efficiency of national fiscal systems was of decisive importance and appealed for new ways of financing development policy to be applied.
South-South cooperation must be strengthened
"Development cooperation should no longer be considered only in terms of the flow of financial assistance from North to South," said Joyce Laboso (Kenya), Co-President of the JPA. "Rather, we now know that there is enormous social, political and indeed economic capital to be shared among less developing countries themselves," she added.
The relationship between the EU and the ACP countries "should not be based on the rather obsolete assumption that one side is the ultimate provider and the other the perennial receiver of the resources", echoed Prime Minister Hailemariyam Desalegn of Ethiopia, noting that "the days of paternalistic political interference are gone."
Abadula Gemeda, Speaker of the House of People’s Representative of Ethiopia, said EU-ACP cooperation must address climate change, agriculture, terrorism, human trafficking and the economic crisis.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
It is "more essential than ever to implement the framework agreement on peace, security and cooperation for the DRC and the Great Lakes Region, signed on 24 February 2013", said Mr Tirolien. "This agreement remains the best basis for relaunching our efforts (...) to achieve a lasting solution to the crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo," he added.
Female genital mutilation
Co-President Joyce Laboso (Kenya) underlined the need to take "immediate action in the form of legal, political and social measures" to end the practice of female genital mutilation, which is "a serious violation of human rights" affecting almost 120 million girls in the world. Social indifference in many countries is one of the main challenges, she said, stressing that "we cannot simply wait for this practice to evolve away naturally with time".
26th ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) brings together elected representatives of the European Union (EU) and the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), with MEPs and MPs from the 78 signatory states to the Cotonou Agreement, which is the basis for ACP-EU development cooperation.
The Assembly will vote on Wednesday, 27 November on three resolutions:
• South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation: opportunities and challenges for ACP countries, Co-rapporteurs: Elvis Mutiri wa Bashara (DRC) and Jean-Jacob Bicep (Greens/EFA, FR);
• Respect for the rule of law and the role of an impartial and independent judiciary, Co-rapporteurs: Dharamkumar Seeraj (Guyana) and Filip Kaczmarek (EPP, PL)
• The social and environmental impacts of pastoralism on ACP Countries, Co-rapporteurs: Abdourahamane Chégou (Niger) and Fiona Hall (ALDE, UK)
Source: European Parliament
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