Brussels, 10 February 2015/ CDE/ ACP: The EU Member States and ACP States reached a joint agreement on an orderly closure of the CDE on 19 and 20 June 2014 in Nairobi, at the 39th meeting of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers.
In October 2014, the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors decided to mandate the CDE Executive Board to appoint a Curator and follow-up the closure process.
As from 22 January 2015, Mrs. Ilse Van de Mierop was designated as Curator of the CDE by the Executive Board. In this function, she also exercises all the powers which the CDE's legal framework attributes to the Director.
The purpose of the Curator's mission is to prepare and implement a closure plan for the CDE, in accordance with all the Agreements, Statutes and Regulations that govern this institution and within a specific timeline.
Closure of CDE
The ACP-EU Council of Ministers, during its meeting on 19-20 June 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya, decided “to proceed with the orderly closing of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE)” by the end of 2016.
This entails the amendment of Annex III of the Cotonou Agreement, which will be taken forward by the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors, acting by delegation of powers.
The ACP-EU Council of Ministers, however, has given assurance that “private sector support projects, implemented by the CDE in ACP countries and regions, will be completed in full”.
This is the case of ongoing Private Sector Development Programmes (PDSPs), now being carried out by the CDE in Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), Haiti and the Republic of Congo.
Meanwhile, an ACP-EU joint working group will be established “to ensure that the CDE is closed under the best possible conditions”, following a clear roadmap, by the end of 2016 at the latest.
The CDE was set up in 1977 as the Centre for the Development of Industry (CDI) to support the ACP private sector. It is a joint institution of the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU), within the framework of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, providing non-financial services (consultancy services, technical assistance, studies, training) to ACP enterprises and to joint initiatives of ACP and EU economic operators.
For any further information, please contact the CDE http://www.cde.int/en/about/contact