Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, has been in Brussels since Saturday, where he will participate in the 115th Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP).
Participants in the event, which runs from today until Tuesday, will focus on the preparation of the organization’s 10th Summit, to be held from December 6th to 10th, in Luanda, as well as the 45th Session of the Council of Ministers ACP/European Union, refers to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent editorial office.
On this trip to Brussels, the head of Angolan diplomacy is accompanied by the director for Europe of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Júlio Maiato, and by the coordinator for the preparation of the 10th Summit of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, itinerant ambassador José Guerreiro Alves Primo.
Created in 1975, the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States intends to transform itself into a strong institution capable of working in solidarity, to improve the living conditions of the peoples of the 79 member nations.
The OEACP has historical partnership relations with the European Union, but it also intends to expand its relations with other strategic partners, as well as to reinforce cooperation between the Member States.
Ambassador Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti is the first Angolan to occupy a prominent position in the OEACP, as secretary general of the organization.
In an interview with Angop, on Friday, the secretary general of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OEACP) said that the next Summit, in Luanda, represents, for Angola, an opportunity to show its leadership capacity, within the framework of international organizations.
Georges Chikoti also highlighted the fact that the event could “give due support to countries, in their relationship with international partners, in raising funds, in formulating their opinions, regarding the development challenges that countries face, from the creation of the Organization”.
“I must say that we congratulate the efforts that Angola has made, because they all fit the challenge for us to organize a great Summit, with positive results, at a time when the OEACP has become an international organization, which fights for the interests of the 79 countries”, he stressed.
The secretary general of the OEACP also highlighted the agreement that the group has just negotiated with the European Union (EU), which resulted in that entity’s commitment to provide, over the next 10 years, 500 million euros, for the Pacific, 800 million for the Caribbean, and 29.1 billion for the African continent.
“It may not be overwhelming, but it is something important for our countries. It is an important help that our countries will benefit from”, he highlighted.
Georges Chikoti also referred to the fact that the new partnership between the European Union (EU) and the OEACP continues to have some gray areas, especially in the chapters on the fight against terrorism and money laundering, which, according to him, has negatively affected some of the Organization’s members.
“In fact, the lists that are established by our partners are often discriminatory, without providing evidence that a particular country is money laundering or linked to the financing of terrorism,” he said.
According to him, “many of the countries on that list are those that have nothing to do with these practices”.
In his understanding, one of the paths to follow to clarify these gray areas is to have a “true and profound” discussion between the partners, so that this discrimination ceases and some OEACP countries are placed on these lists.
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