Supporting structural transformation in the ACP agro-food sector: Redefining possible roles of the ACP post 2020

The raison d’etre of the ACP Group is the promotion of the gradual integration of ACP states into the world economy in ways which contribute to the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable development. Agriculture is central to most ACP countries’ economies, and an increasingly stringent EU agricultural product quality policy together with the proliferation of both official and private product standards are currently worsening the ACP Group’s access to the EU market. Preventing the emergence of these new barriers to trade represents an important area of common interest for ACP Group members, and offers a potential rationale for future concertation as a group with the EU. The paper also puts forward additional issues that could form the base of continued ACP solidarity, such as cotton issues at the WTO and the penetration of of non-traditional export markets. Photo: Kate Holt/Africa Practice