BRUSSELS, Belgium (CMC) — Co-President of the African Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU)-Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), Fitz Jackson, yesterday called for the strengthening of relations between the two parties as the ACP grouping celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

Jackson, a Jamaican member of parliament, said that the 20-year Cotonou Agreement that was signed between the EU and the 78-member ACP grouping in 2000 will soon come to an end.

“As we approach the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement, we need to see how we can enhance and strengthen, rather than diminish, the partnership,” he said, noting that the 40-year partnership between the EU and the ACP “should not only be measured in terms of statistics, but in the solidarity that it has helped to build among peoples of the South and those of the North”.

Jackson said that events of the last few years indicate that the world needs more effective global governance than ever before, from dealing with effects of climate change, and man-made disasters like the financial crisis, saying ‘we need effective leadership and consensus on the essential issues affecting us all.

“The ACP-EU partnership, which collectively represents about 1.2 billion people in the world, can play a very important role in addressing challenges of sustainable development and poverty eradication.”

He said in the context of the debate on the outcome of COP21, now taking place in Paris, “nothing perhaps better illustrates the dangers of climate change and the threats posed to Small Island Developing States.

“Climate change and sea-level rise continue to pose a significant risk to small island developing states and their efforts to achieve sustainable development and, for some, represent the gravest of threats to their survival and loss of territory,” he said, adding that he is reminded of the devastating effects of cyclone Pam in Vanuatu earlier in the year, and the devastation caused by a cyclone in Dominica in September of this year.

“The scientific evidence adduced so far demonstrates that climate change is the result of the burning of fossil fuels. Historically, economic development has been strongly correlated with increasing energy use and growth of greenhouse gas emissions.”