ACP Institutions

The Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government is the supreme organ of the ACP Group. Since 1997, Heads of State and Government of ACP member-countries have been meeting regularly to lay down the broad guidelines for the general policy of the ACP Group and give the Council of Ministers instructions relating to its implementation. The Summit is presided over by the Head of State or Government of the host-country and organized by a Bureau comprising the President-in-Office, the outgoing President and the incoming President (if already designated).

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The Council of Ministers is the ACP Group’s main decision-making body. It is the supreme body responsible for implementing the guidelines laid down by the Summit. Ministerial sectoral meetings are held regularly, namely, Meeting of Trade Ministers, Meeting of Ministers of Culture. The Council is composed of a member of Government from each ACPState or a government-designated representative. It outlines the terms and conditions for implementing the Group’s objectives as set out in its general policy, and periodically checks to see whether these objectives have been attained. The Council meets twice annually in ordinary sessions. It may also meet, when necessary, in special session, on the advice of the President, after consultation with all the members of the Bureau.

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The Committee of Ambassadors is the second decision-making body of the ACP Group. It acts on behalf of the Council of Ministers between ministerial sessions. It is composed of the Ambassadors or one representative from every ACP State. The role of the Committee of Ambassadors consists in:

• Assisting the Council of Ministers in its functions and carrying out any mandate assigned; and

•  Monitoring the implementation of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement with a view to achieving its stated objectives.

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The Secretariat is responsible for the administrative management of the ACP Group. It assists the Group's decision-making and advisory organs in carrying out their work.

The ACP Secretariat's headquarters is located in Brussels (Belgium). It is headed by an Executive Secretary-General who is responsible for implementing the Group's international policy, as well as directing and coordinating its cooperation policy. The Secretariat, under the direction of the ACP Group's policy-making organs (Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, Council of Ministers, Committee of Ambassadors), is responsible for:

• carrying out the tasks assigned it by the Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, Council of Ministers, Committee of Ambassadors and the ACP Parliamentary Assembly;

• contributing to the implementation of the decisions of these organs; 

•  monitoring the implementation of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement;

• assisting the ACP organs and joint institutions created in the framework of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreements.

16/01/2006

The Meeting of ACP members of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly is the organisation of ACP Parliamentarians who are members of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA). The JPA is a joint Assembly which brings together an equal number of ACP and EU Parliamentarians. The meeting of ACP members acts as an advisory assembly of the Group.

Signing of the Charter to create the ACP Consultative Assembly

On 15 April 2005, 27 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries signed the Charter creating the ACP Consultative Assembly at an official Ceremony presided over by Mrs. Sharon Hay-Webster, ACP Co-President of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly, at the Conference Centre in Bamako. The Charter effectively brings the Assembly into existence, thereby providing an institutional framework for the work of the ACP Parliamentarians. The Assembly is not a new structure, but rather the formalisation and re-affirmation of the existing inter-parliamentary cooperation mechanism within the ACP Group, as provided for in Article 18 of the Georgetown Agreement.

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