Brussels, 19 July 2021/OACPS: H.E. Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), was invited as a special guest to address the hybrid meeting of Pacific OACPS Trade Ministers Meeting on 15 July 2021 in Suva, Fiji.

In his recorded video presentation, The OACPS Secretary-General applauded the establishment of the Forum Trade Ministers Meeting, “a unique, regional, ministerial-level platform for framing strategic regional solutions to trade challenges faced by Pacific Members of the OACPS.”

Secretary-General Chikoti made mention of some of the main points of the new Pacific-EU Protocol, contained in the recently initialled Partnership Agreement, such as the new agreements to work together on issues related to climate change and to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; the need for increased cooperation in international fora and to work together towards common goals, while strengthening multilateralism. Secretary-General Chikoti also spoke about the new financial instrument, the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – also known as “Global Europe”, which has been introduced to replace the European Development Fund (EDF), which in the next seven years, from 2021 to 2027, has allocated EUR 500 million for the Pacific Region.

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