The Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR), Cape Town, South Africa, hosted a policy research seminar in Cape Town, from 29 to 30 October 2012, on “The African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group and the European Union (EU)”. The Cape Town meeting focused on the potential for further strategic engagement between the 79-member ACP and the 27-member EU as the third five-year review of the Cotonou Agreement of 2000 on trade, aid, and political cooperation approaches in 2015, and as the end of the 20-year span of Cotonou in 2020 draws nearer. The seminar also considered the impact of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the ACP and the EU on the trade, development, and region building efforts of the Group’s member states; and crafted concrete recommendations in support of ACP institutional reform efforts and the broadening of future relations with new non-European partners.
