PRIME Minister Andrew Holness on Monday urged the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) to continue its efforts to transform itself into an “effective global player”.

“A transformed ACP will be better able to empower the more than one billion people that it represents,” Holness said in an address to the ACP Committee of Ambassadors in Brussels, two months into Jamaica’s chairmanship of the ACP Council.

Holness expressed appreciation for the benefits that ACP states have enjoyed over the decades from their representation of the interests of people from the three regions. However, he insisted that it was time for transformation to look beyond its traditional engagements.

He noted that, for example, several Caribbean countries were severely impacted by climate change and weather-related crises, which were not unique to the region but affect many other ACP countries.

“None of us can champion this cause alone in the international arena. However, a united ACP can establish synergies with bodies such as the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

“Our efforts to address common challenges will have the best prospects of success mounted from a united front,” he said.

Holness said that following the expiration of the current Cotonou Agreement (which was signed in Cotonou, Benin, in June 2000) in 2020, the successor arrangement between the ACP group of states and the European Union will be of critical importance to the effective pursuit of sustainable development by all countries.

He said that Jamaica has taken seriously its responsibility to each State, in the context of its presidency of the ACP Council of Ministers.

He said that, along with the CARIFORUM group of states, it represents on the council, Jamaica is committed to promoting a process of collaboration that will ensure no State is left behind.

He noted that ACP has accomplished much through unity, strength and solidarity.

He also noted that a report from the ACP’s Eminent Persons Group, titled, ACP: A New Vision For the Future, has noted that the group’s major strength has been its ability to serve as a platform for its member countries to engage with bilateral and multilateral partners in securing sustainable development, including growth and poverty eradication for its 1.1 billion population.

“The group’s numerical strength represents a formidable force in our engagements with third countries on issues of concern to our members,” he noted.

He said that the success of their cooperation has been manifested at different levels, including significant contribution to the eradication of poverty, improved and more equitable access to basic services and infrastructures, increased awareness of the environment and climate change, and enhanced mutual understanding through political dialogue.

Jamaica’s Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has been chairman of the ACP Council of Ministers since February this year.

As it prepares for talks on future relations with the European Union after the Cotonou Agreement expires in February 2020, the ACP is engaged in efforts to reshape itself into “an effective global player”, serving as a catalyst and an advocate for defending, protecting and advancing multilateralism within the overarching framework of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including 17 sustainable development goals.

The ACP is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. The group’s main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world’s economy.

All of the member states, except Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union. The Cotonou Agreement is the successor to the Lomé Conventions.

— Balford Henry