(f) sponsor and help organize meetings of specialists, research workers, planners and development personnel so that they may exchange experience gained in specific ecological environments;
(g) facilitate access by the ACP States' training and extension personnel to the information they need to carry out their tasks and refer requests for specific training to the existing qualified bodies;
(h) help facilitate the adaptation of available information to the needs of the ACP States' departments responsible for development, training and extension services;
(i) facilitate the dissemination of information concerning agricultural research and extension work, by reference to the priority requirements of development.
3. In the performance of its tasks the Centre shall pay particular attention to the needs of the least-developed ACP States.
4. The Committee of Ambassadors shall be the supervisory authority of the Centre. It shall lay down the rules of operation and the procedures for the adoption of the Centre's budget. The budget shall be financed in accordance with the rules laid down in this Convention in respect of financial and technical co-operation,
35. (a) The Centre shall be headed by a director appointed by the Committee of Ambassadors,
(b) The director of the Centre shall be assisted by staff recruited within the limits of the numbers budgeted for by the Committee of Ambassadors.
(c) The director of the Centre shall report on its activities to the Committee of Ambassadors.
6. (a) In order to provide the director of the Centre with technical and scientific assistance in working out appropriate solutions to the problems encountered by the ACP States, notably to improve their access to information, technical innovation, research and development in the sphere of agricultural and rural development and to devise the Centre's action programmes, an advisory committee shall be set up, composed on a basis of parity of agricultural and rural development experts.
(b) The members of the advisory committee shall be appointed by the Committee of Ambassadors in accordance with the procedures and criteria determined by it.
Chapter 2. Drought and Desertification Control
Article 38.
1. The ACP States and the Community recognize that the physical, economic and political existence of certain ACP States is threatened by endemic drought and growing desertification, which destroy all efforts at development, in particular those aimed at achieving the priority objective of self-sufficiency and food security.
2. The two parties agree that in a number of ACP States control of drought and desertification constitutes a pressing and imperative need for the success of any development undertaking.
3. The same will apply eventually to the States bordering the affected areas, for which this phenomenon represents a real threat to their fragile social and ecological equilibrium.
Article 39.
The two parties recognize that halting the deterioration of land and forest potential, re-establishing ecological equilibria, protecting natural resources and exploiting them efficiently constitute, inter alia, fundamental objectives which the ACP States concerned endeavour to attain with the support of the Community, notably in order to improve their people's living conditions.
Article 40.
1. The scale, in space and time, of the phenomenon and also of the resources to be deployed, means that the operations to be undertaken must form part of overall, long-term policies designed and applied by the ACP States at national, regional and international level in the context of international solidarity.
2. To this effect, the two parties agree to lay stress on the implementation of campaigns with specific themes backed up not only by the resources of this Convention, but also by all other means of support that can be mobilized.
3. Remedying the situation of countries affected or threatened by these calamities, and promoting their lasting development, calls for a genuine policy to encourage the restoration of natural balances by means of better water control and a campaign against practices encouraging the appearance and development of the phenomenon of desertification.
Article 41.
The operations to be undertaken, where necessary with research backing, shall cover, inter alia:
1) improving man's knowledge of, and ability to forecast, desertification phenomena by observing developments in the field, by making use of results achieved and gaining a better understanding of the changes to the human environment in time and space;
2) making an inventory of water-tables and of their replenishment capacity with a view to better predictability of water supplies, using surface and groundwater and improving management of these resources for the purpose of satisfying the needs of people and animals, and improving weather forecasting:
3) establishing a system for the prevention and control of bush fires and deforestation.
Article 42.
If a return to the natural balance is to be expected, a "drought and desertification control" component in particular must be incorporated into all agricultural and rural development operations, such as:
1) - the extension of agro-forestry systems combining farming and forestry, research and development activities to produce plant species that are more adapted to local conditions;
- the introduction of suitable techniques aimed at increasing and maintaining the productivity of agricultural land, arable land and natural pastureland with a view to controlling the various forms of erosion;
- the reclamation of land that has deteriorated, by means of reafforestation or agricultural land improvement, combined with maintenance schemes involving, as far as possible, the people and authorities concerned in order to safeguard the progress made;
2) the encouragement of measures to economize on wood as an energy source by stepping up research, application of, and information on, new and renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar and biomass energy, and by the use of improved stoves with a greater heat yield:
3) the development and management of forestry resources by setting up, at national or regional level, forestry management plans aimed at optimizing the exploitation of forestry resources;
4) the pursuit of ongoing campaigns to educate the people concerned to be aware of the phenomena of drought and desertification and to train them in the possible ways of controlling them.
Article 43.
The Community shall provide support for the efforts deployed by the ACP States at national, regional and international level and for operations undertaken by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in the context of national and intergovernmental options and priorities.
Chapter 3. Co-operation on Agricultural Commodities
Article 44.
Given the extreme dependence of the economies of the vast majority of ACP States on their exports of agricultural commodities and the deterioration in the position of exports from the ACP States on the markets in these products, coupled with the excessive fluctuations of their prices on the world market, the Contracting Parties hereby express their determination to continue, reinforce and intensify their co-operation in this sector.
Article 45.
To this effect, co-operation in the sector of agricultural commodities shall be planned and implemented in support of policies or strategies adopted by the ACP States and aim, inter alia, to:
- support ACP States' action designed to restore and improve production and marketing conditions, involving research and training, investment, supply and production of inputs, extension work, as well as action in fields such as credit, storage, conservation and transport;
- help diversify production with a view to reducing external dependence and ensuring better adjustment to market demands;
- encourage local processing which will create added value in economically viable conditions;
- stimulate specific action to facilitate the marketing of ACP products;
- help train ACP operators to make better use of all the mechanisms of world commodity markets;
- stimulate and stabilize the commodities sector in the economies of the ACP States;
- encourage a greater flow of private investment to this sector.
Article 46.
In order to achieve these objectives, the Contracting Parties agree to:
(a) undertake concerted action so as to facilitate the pursuit of this Convention's objectives in the area of commodities;
(b) strive actively to create the conditions most conducive to the development of production and the improvement of marketing;
(c) make judicious use of all the instruments and resources of this Convention which may be of help to this sector.
Article 47.
In view of the importance and persistence of problems relating to agricultural commodities, the two parties agree to ensure that co-operation in these matters is subject to sustained and thorough monitoring. To this end, they agree to set up an Agricultural Commodities Committee, the functions of which shall be to:
(a) monitor the general application of this Convention in the agricultural commodities sector;
(b) examine any general problems concerning ACP-EEC trade in commodities which may be referred to it by the relevant subcommittees established in accordance with this Convention;
(c) recommend suitable measures to solve such problems.
Article 48.
The Agricultural Commodities Committee, of which the rules of procedure shall be laid down by the Council of Ministers, shall be composed of representatives of the ACP States and of the Community appointed by the Council of Ministers.
In accordance with Article 272(2), its work shall be supervised by the Committee of Ambassadors. As a rule, it shall meet quarterly and, should the Council of Ministers so decide in accordance with Article 270, at ministerial level.
Article 49.
Efforts shall be made to intensify the process of ongoing consultation between the ACP States and the Community, and in international forums and organizations which aim to stabilize agricultural commodity markets. To this end, exchanges of views may take place, at the request of either party, when it is intended to conclude or renew an international agricultural commodity agreement. The aim of such exchanges of views shall be to take account of the respective interests of each party where the conclusion or renewal of an agreement is envisaged.
Title II. Development of Fisheries
Article 50.
The ACP States and the Community recognize the urgent need to promote the development of fishery resources of ACP States both as a contribution towards the development of fisheries as a whole and as a sphere of mutual interest for their respective economic sectors.
Co-operation in this field shall promote the optimum utilization of the fishery resources of ACP States, while recognizing the rights of landlocked states to participate in the exploitation of sea fisheries and the right of coastal states to exercise jurisdiction over the living marine resources of their exclusive economic zones in conformity with current international law and notably the conclusions of the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
Article 51.
To encourage the development of the exploitation of the fishery resources of the ACP States, all the mechanisms for assistance and co-operation provided for in this Convention, notably financial and technical assistance in accordance with the terms set out in Title III, Part Three, of this Convention shall be applied to fisheries.
The priority objectives of such co-operation shall be to:
- encourage the rational exploitation of the fishery resources of the ACP States and the resources of high seas in which the ACP States and the Community share interests;
- increase the contribution of fisheries to rural development, by giving importance to the role they play in strengthening food security, improving nutrition and rural living standards;
- increase the contribution of fisheries to industrial development by increasing catches, output and exports.
Article 52.
Assistance from the Community for fisheries development shall include support in the following areas:
(a) fisheries production, including the acquisition of boats, equipment and gear, the development of infrastructure for rural fishing communities and the fishing industry and support for aquaculture projects, notably by providing specific lines of credit to appropriate ACP institutions for onlending to the operators concerned;
(b) fisheries management and protection, including the assessment of fish stocks and of aquaculture potential, the improvement of environmental monitoring and control and the development of ACP coastal states' capacities for the management of the fishery resources in their exclusive economic zone;
(c) processing and marketing of fishery products, including the development of processing, collection, distribution and marketing facilities and operations; the reduction of post-harvest losses and the promotion of programmes to improve fish utilization and nutrition from fishery products.
Article 53.
Particular attention shall be paid in fishery resource development co-operation to the training of ACP nationals in all areas of fisheries, to the development and strengthening of ACP research capabilities and to the promotion of intra-ACP and regional co-operation in fisheries management and development.
Article 54.
The ACP States and the Community recognize the need for direct or regional co-operation or, as appropriate, co-operation through international organizations, with a view to promoting conservation and the optimum use of the living resources of the sea.
Article 55.
The Community and the ACP States recognize that coastal states exercise sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing the fishery resources of their respective exclusive economic zones in conformity with current international law. The ACP States recognize that there is a role for Community Member States' fishing fleets, operating lawfully in waters under ACP jurisdiction, in the development of ACP fishery potential and in economic development in general in the coastal ACP States. Accordingly, the ACP States declare their willingness to negotiate with the Community fishery agreements aimed at guaranteeing mutually satisfactory conditions for fishing activities of vessels flying the flag of one of the Member States of the Community.
In the conclusion or implementation of such agreements, the ACP States shall not discriminate against the Community or among the Member States, without prejudice to special arrangements between developing states within the same geographical area, including reciprocal fishing arrangements, nor shall the Community discriminate against ACP States.
Article 56.
Where ACP States situated in the same subregion as territories to which the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty) applies wish to engage in fishing activities in the corresponding fishing zone, the Community and the ACP States shall open negotiations with a view to concluding a fishery agreement in the spirit of Article 55, taking account of their specific situation in the region and of the objective of strengthening regional co-operation between those territories and the neighbouring ACP States.
Article 57.
The Community and the ACP States recognize the value of a regional approach to fisheries access and shall support moves by ACP coastal states towards harmonized arrangements for access for fishing vessels.
Article 58.
The Community and the ACP States agree to take all appropriate steps to ensure that the efforts undertaken in fisheries co-operation under this Convention shall be effective, taking into account notably the Joint Declaration on the origin of fishery products.
As regards exports of fishery products to the markets of the Community, due account shall be taken of Article 284.
Article 59.
The mutually satisfactory conditions referred to in Article 55 shall bear in particular on the nature and the scale of the compensation to be received by the ACP States concerned under bilateral agreements.
Compensation shall be additional to any allocation relating to projects in the fisheries sector pursuant to Title III, Part Three, of this Convention.
Compensation shall be provided for partly by the Community as such and partly by the shipowners and shall take the form of financial compensation which may include licensing fees and, where appropriate, any other elements agreed upon by the parties to the fishery agreement, such as obligatory landing of part of the catch, employment of ACP nationals, the taking on board of observers, transfer of technology, research and training grants.
Compensation shall relate to the scale and value of the fishing opportunities provided in the exclusive economic zones of the ACP States.
In addition, with regard to the fishing of highly migratory species, the particular character of such fisheries shall be taken into account in the respective obligations under the agreements, including the financial compensation.
The Community shall take all necessary measures to ensure that its vessels comply with the provisions of the agreements negotiated and with the laws and regulations of the ACP State concerned.
Title III. Industrial Development
Article 60.
The Community and the ACP States, acknowledging that industrialization is a driving force in bringing about balanced and diversified economic and social development and creating conditions conducive to the attainment of the ACP States' collective self-reliance, agree to promote industrial development in the ACP States with a view to providing them with a framework for strengthening their share of world trade.
Article 61.
The aim of industrial co-operation between the Community and the ACP States shall be, in particular, to derive full benefit from those States' human and natural resources through the modernization of their societies, to create jobs, to generate and distribute income, to facilitate the transfer of technology and its adaptation to conditions in the ACP States and their specific needs, to foster complementarity of the different branches of industry and between industry and the rural sector in order to make full use of that sector's potential, and to promote new relations of dynamic complementarity in the industrial field between the Community and the ACP States.
Account shall be taken in industrial co-operation of the need to establish and strengthen an economic, technical, social and institutional environment conducive to industrialization. Em- phasis shall be placed on the development of all types of appropriate industries, training and co-operation between firms in the Member States of the Community and in the ACP States.
In pursuit of these aims, the Contracting Parties shall have recourse to, in addition to the specific provisions on industria] co-operation, those on trade, trade promotion for ACP pro- ducts and private investment.
Article 62.
In order to implement industrial co-operation, the Community shall help carry out programmes, projects and operations submitted to it on the initiative or with the agreement of the ACP States. To this end, it shall use all the means provided in this Convention, notably those at its disposal under financial and technical co-operation and, in particular, those which are the responsibility of the European Investment Bank (hereinafter referred to as the "Bank"), without prejudice to operations to assist ACP States in mobilizing finance from other sources,
Industrial co-operation programmes, projects and operations which involve Community financing shall be implemented in conformity with Title III, Part Three, of this Convention, having regard to the particular characteristics of aid operations in the industrial sector.
Article 63.
The Community shall assist the ACP States in the improvement of their institutional framework, reinforcement of their financing institutions, the establishment, rehabilitation and improvement of industry-related infrastructure and in their efforts to integrate industrial structures and regional and inter-regional markets.
Article 64.
On the basis of a request from an ACP State, the Community shall provide the assistance required in the field of industrial training at all levels, bearing notably on the evaluation of industrial training needs and the establishment of corresponding programmes, the setting-up and operation of national or regional ACP industrial training establishments, training for ACP nationals in appropriate establishments, on-the-job training both in the Community and in the ACP States and also co-operation between industrial training establishments in the Community and the ACP States, and between the latter and those of other developing countries.
Article 65.
The Community shall assist in the establishment and expansion of all types of viable enterprise which have been identified by the ACP States as important in terms of their development objectives.
The Community and the ACP States shall place special emphasis on the restoration, upgrading, reorganization or restructuring of existing industrial capacities which are viable but temporarily out of action or performing badly and also on the maintenance of plant and equipment and of enterprises and, for this purpose, industrial co-operation shall be focused on assistance for the start-up or rehabilitation of such enterprises and on the relevant forms of training at all levels.
Particular attention shall be paid to
- industries for the domestic processing of ACP raw materials;
- agro-industries;
- integral industries capable of creating links between the different sectors of the economy;
- industries which have a favourable effect on employment, the trade balance and regional integration.
Community financing shall take the form, as a matter of priority, of loans from the Bank on its own resources and of risk capital, these being the specific financing methods for industrial enterprises.
Article 66.
The Community shall contribute in a spirit of mutual interest to the development of ACP-EEC and intra-ACP co-operation between enterprises by information and industrial promo- tion activities.
The aim of such activities shall be to intensify the regular exchange of information, organize the contacts required in the industrial sphere between industrial policy-makers, promoters and economic operators from the Community and the ACP States, carry out studies, notably feasibility studies, facilitate the establishment and operation of ACP industrial promotion bodies and foster joint investment, subcontracting arrangements and any other form of industrial co-operation between undertakings in the Member States of the Community and in the ACP States.
Article 67.
The Community shall contribute to the establishment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the artisanal, commercial, service and industrial sectors in view of the essential role that these enterprises play in the modern and informal sectors in building up a diversified economic fabric and in the general development of the ACP countries, and in view of the advantages they offer as regards the acquisition of skills, the integrated transfer and adaptation of appropriate technology and opportunities for taking the best advantage of local manpower. The Community can also help with sector evaluation and the establishment of action programmes, with the setting-up of appropriate infrastructure, the establishment, strengthening and operation of institutions providing information, promotion, extension, training, credit or guarantee and transfer of technology facilities.
The Community and the ACP States shall encourage co-operation and contact between small and medium-sized enterprises in the Member States and the ACP States.
Article 68.
With a view to assisting the ACP States to develop their technological base and indigenous capacity for scientific and technological development and facilitating the acquisition, transfer and adaptation of technology on terms that will seek to bring about the greatest possible benefits and minimize costs, the Community, through the instruments of financial and technical co-operation, is prepared, inter alia, to contribute to:
(a) the establishment and strengthening of industry-related scientific and technical infrastructure in the ACP States;
(b) the drawing-up and implementation of research and development programmes;
(c) the identification and creation of opportunities for collaboration among research institutes, institutions of higher learning and enterprises of ACP States, the Community, the Member States and other countries;
(d) the establishment and promotion of activities aimed at the consolidation of appropriate indigenous technology and the acquisition of relevant foreign technology, in particular that of other developing countries;
(e) the identification, evaluation and acquisition of industrial technology including the negotiation on favourable terms and conditions of foreign technology, patents and other industrial property, in particular through financing or through other suitable arrangements with firms and institutions within the Community;
(f) providing ACP States with advisory services for the preparation of regulations governing the transfer of technology and for the supply of available information, in particular on the terms and conditions of technology contracts, the types and sources of technology, and the experience of ACP States and other countries with the use of certain types of technology;
(g) the promotion of technology co-operation between ACP States and between them and other developing countries in order to make the best use of any particularly appropriate scientific and technical facilities they may possess;
(h) facilitating, wherever possible, access to and use of documentary and other data sources available in the Community.
Article 69.
In order to enable the ACP States to obtain full benefit from the trade arrangements and other provisions of this Convention, promotion schemes shall be undertaken for the marketing of ACP States' industrial products on both Community and other external markets, and also in order to stimulate and develop trade in industrial products among the ACP States. Such schemes shall cover market research, marketing and the quality and standardization of manufactured goods, in accordance with Articles 190 and 191 and taking into account Articles 95 and 96.
Article 70.
1. A Committee on Industrial Co-operation, supervised by the Committee of Ambassadors, shall:
(a) review progress made with the overall industrial co-operation programme resulting from this Convention and, where appropriate, submit recommendations to the Committee of Ambassadors:
(b) examine problems and policy issues in the field of industrial co-operation submitted to it by the ACP States or by the Community, and make any appropriate proposals;
(c) organize, at the request of the Community or of the ACP States, a review of trends in industrial policies of the ACP States and of the Member States as well as developments in the world industrial situation with a view to exchanging information necessary for improving industrial co-operation and facilitating the industrial development of the ACP States;
(d) establish the general strategy of the Centre for the Development of Industry referred to in Article 71, appoint the director and deputy director, nominate the members of the Governing Board, appoint the two auditors, apportion, on an annual basis, the overall financial allocation provided for in Article 73(4) and examine, on the basis of the Centre's annual report, the deployment of these resources in order to assess whether the Centre's activities are in conformity with the objectives assigned to it in this Convention and report to the Committee of Ambassadors and, through it, to the Council of Ministers;
(e) carry out such other duties as may be assigned to it by the Committee of Ambassadors;
2. The composition of the Committee on Industrial Co-operation and the detailed rules for its operation shall be determined by the Council of Ministers.