Samoa’s Ambassador to Europe, H.E. Fatumanava III Dr Pa’olelei Luteru, represented Samoa at the 108^th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers held in Brussels, Belgium from 13 to 14 December 2018. The 108^th Session was the first ACP Ministerial meeting since the official launch of ACP-EU Post Cotonou negotiations in New York on 28 September 2018.

During the session, the Council of Ministers adopted Resolutions on the ACP Agricultural Value Chains Development, Strong Dimension of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in the new Post-Cotonou Agreement, ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements, Reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and others.

The ACP Council also took decisions as follows:

1. Endorse that the new ACP-EU Partnership Agreement should maintain the existing institutional architecture in line with the ACP Negotiating Mandate and affirm that it shall be a single partnership agreement encompassing a foundation and three regional protocols;
2. Call on the ACP Member States to review and submit any amendments to the text of the Georgetown Agreement, with the aim of submitting a revised document to the 109^th Session of Council;
3. Hold the 9^th ACP Summit in 2019, welcome the offer of Uganda to host and mandate the Committee of Ambassadors to agree on a precise date with the host country and to make adequate preparations;
4. Establish the ACP Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation in Equatorial Guinea and approve the Organisational Structure of the Centre;
5. Mandate the Committee of Ambassadors to utilize all the relevant recommendations in the final review of the European Investment Bank’s management of the ACP Investment Facility and request that the Committee of Ambassadors submit a report on the matter to the 109^th Session of Council;
6. Maintain the existing framework for hiring an external auditor and approve the establishment of an Audit and Budget Committee comprising the Internal Auditor and members appointed by the Committee of Ambassadors;
7. Adopt the ACP Secretariat’s Budget for 2019; and
8. Defer decision on the review of the ACP Staff Regulations until the 109^th Session and mandate the Committee of Ambassadors to take necessary measures to finalize the report of the review (in line with international standards and requirements of Belgian legislation).

The next Session of the Council is scheduled to be held in May 2019.