BRUSSELS, Belgium (CMC) —Jamaican legislator Fitz Jackson has been elected as chair of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Parliamentary Assembly.

Jackson has also been elected co-president of the ACP-European Union Joint Assembly (JPA) and will serve with Belgian legislator ad former EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel.

Jackson, who first entered parliament in his country in 1994, has pledged his commitment to deepen the solidarity of the 79-member group of states and preserve the cohesion of the ACP.

“We must never forget the genesis of this organisation. We have the ability to strengthen this organisation and make it viable in serving the aspirations of people in Africa, in the Caribbean and in the Pacific,” said Jackson, who replaces Joyce Laboso of Kenya

Jackson will remain in office for two years and involves co-directing the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, while also coordinating meetings and work programmes on the ACP side.

An ACP Secretariat statement said that the JPA is the only institution of its kind in the world, where elected representatives of various countries sit together regularly with the aim of promoting the cooperation of North and South.

“This includes parliamentarians of 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific states who, under the Cotonou Agreement, meet their 78 European Parliament counterparts in plenary session for one week twice a year,” it added.