16 th Meeting of the Steering and Follow-up Committee of the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton

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1 COMITE D ORIENTATION ET DE SUIVI-COTON (COS-COTON) EUROPEAN COMMISSION ACP GROUP OF STATES C/O COORDINATION UNIT (CU) ALL ACP AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES PROGRAMME Tel: Cardno Emerging Markets Belgium Fax: Avenue Louise 479 (Box 53) web: Brussels Belgium I. Welcome 16 th Meeting of the Steering and Follow-up Committee of the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton Bamako, 1 st December The meeting was chaired by H.E. Kadré D. Ouedraogo, Ambassador of Burkina Faso to the European Union. The chairman welcomes all those present. Special mention is made of MoZaZiMa which requested permission to attend the meeting as an observer, and which those present accepted unanimously. The chairman is pleased that this meeting is being held in Bamako, following the decentralisation of COS. 2. The international organisations (IO) partners of the All ACP Agricultural Commodities Program (AAACP) are also attending the meeting as observers. II. Adoption of the Agenda 3. An amendment is made to the agenda, to allow the three regional cotton focal points (RCFP) to present the status of implementation of the decisions made at the previous meeting for their respective regions. III. Adoption of the Minutes of the 15 th COS-Coton Meeting 4. The chairman proposes listing the questions arising from the minutes of the 15 th COS Meeting and that the concerned persons provide necessary clarifications. These deal with paragraph 10 of Section 3 regarding the financing granted to the Association of African Cotton Producers (AProCA) by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU); and paragraph 13 of Section 4 regarding the Memoranda of Understanding concerning WAEMU, planned between the International Trade Centre (ITC), WAEMU and between ITC and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). 5. The WAEMU representative states that to date, the memorandum has still not been signed due to a divergence of interpretation of the agreement, in particular as concerns financial aspects. 6. The ITC representative explains that the latest version of the Memorandum of Understanding will be submitted to the organisation s legal department and that an answer should be available by next week (5 to 9 December 2011).

2 Page 2 7. The ECCAS Focal Point indicates that the agreement still has not been signed because clarifications need to be made to certain terms used in the memorandum. Following a discussion with the ITC, an amended version has been submitted to ECCAS for its appreciation prior to signature. 8. The representative of the Coordination Unit of the AAACP (CU) queries how spending is met for the operation of the Focal Points since the WAEMU and ECCAS memoranda have still not been signed. 9. The ITC representative tempers the complaints expressed: although the Memoranda of Understanding have not yet been signed, a number of activities were set up and financed by the ITC between May and December 2011, in particular thanks to the ITC financial flexibility (Authorized Field Expenditure through the UNDP and through the institution s purchasing department). 10. The ECCAS Focal Point is not entirely satisfied with the conditions in which the Focal Point s role is being performed. The fact that it is not clearly recognised by the ECCAS, in the absence of a signed memorandum, means that it often finds itself in an awkward position. 11. The WAEMU representative shares serious concern, expressing a lack of dialogue and considers that the ITC doesn t release in time the funds necessary to implement the activities agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understanding, forcing the Focal Point to continuously request it and placing it in an embarrassing situation. 12. From an operational viewpoint, the ECCAS FP has greater fluidity in its relations with the ITC since the latter appointed a consultant to act as an interface between the organisation and the Focal Point. 13. Following these clarifications, the chairman requests that the ITC, WAEMU and the ECCAS sign the Memoranda of Understanding as quickly as possible in order to allow better implementation of the activities. 14. The president of the African Cotton Association (A.C.A.) refers to paragraph 24 of Section 5 on the amounts assigned to the A.C.A. with respect to its request for support. More specifically, he asks that the funds intended to support his organisation be increased. 15. Explaining that this point will be discussed in IV, the chairman declares the minutes of the 15 th COS meeting adopted. IV. Implementation of decisions taken at the 15 th COS meeting 16. Only two decisions taken at the last meeting require follow-up action. The first point concerns A.C.A. s request for financial support. The organisation was given a month to review the terms of reference and to align it with the Action Framework. The second point

3 Page 3 related to the format of the resource mobilisation workshop supporting African cotton sectors. For this second decision, the option of a single workshop was chosen and the workshop was held on 30 November 2011, in Bamako, Mali. 17. As concerns the A.C.A. s request, its representative reports that after being informed of the COS s decision, the request was submitted again several times in order to satisfy the demands made by the Committee. On 1 st December 2011, in the afternoon, a meeting will be held to deal with the latest problems on this subject. 18. Furthermore, the A.C.A. requests the COS s favourable consideration of its request. The association acknowledges the constraints/drafting errors and deficiencies in preparing the request. It commits to ensuring such a situation is not repeated. However, it calls for COS s support to hold a workshop for the Technical Transport Commission, in addition to the two scheduled workshops. To this end, it requests an additional The CU representative is embarrassed that processing of the A.C.A. s request should take so long without any agreement being reached between the COS and the A.C.A. The main problem that persists is that the A.C.A. s request does not reflect the ownership of the Action Framework, even though the A.C.A. is an executive member of the COS. 20. The representative of the European Commission (EC) programme reminds those present that the latest version to be worked on at the 1 st December 2011 meeting had just been sent by A.C.A. She also wonders about the co-financing with actual funds or in kind that the A.C.A. had promised for the meeting of its technical commissions as well as financing from third parties. As for the request for additional funding just made, more information is necessary. 21. The ACP Secretariat representative shares the viewpoints of the EC and the CU. However, because there is residual funding and the A.C.A. s initial request was for to finance three workshops, he asks that a favourable reply be given to the A.C.A. s request in order to support the implementation of its activities. 22. In the absence of objection to the ACPS suggestion, the chairman concludes by approving the principle of additional financing requested. He asks that the A.C.A. contact the EU and the ACP Secretariat, as agreed after the meeting, and asks that the CU ensure that the request be finalised quickly. V. Main lessons learned from the COS-coton resource mobilisation meeting, and implications in terms of monitoring, especially as concerns the Pan African Cotton Road Map (the Road Map) 23. The CU representative returns to the preparations for the workshop. He shares his satisfaction with regards to inputs from the IOs of the AAACP, the Regional Economic Communities (REC) as well as of the technical and financial partners (TFP), on which the CU was able to depend during the organisation of the meeting. However, the low turn-out of

4 Page 4 funding agencies was disappointing. He also reminds those present that this low rate of participation has characterised the dissemination workshops organised in various ACP regions except for that for the Pacific region. Indeed, in that case, the Focal Point (the Secretariat of the Pacific Community) was very involved prior to the meeting, even organising preparatory meetings with funding agencies. 24. Additional effort should have been made to better solicit the regional organisation networks. The World Bank had recommended identifying key individuals in each organisation. The CU should have counted on the support of the PROBA group (the European Council working group composed of representatives of EU Member states responsible for agricultural issues) which it keeps regularly informed of Programme advances. 25. At the next dissemination meeting, scheduled for March or April 2012 in Brussels, new approaches can be considered in order to optimise the mobilisation of funding agencies. 26. When presenting the Road Map, UNCTAD states that the document is the fruit of the conclusions of the Pan-African cotton meeting held in June 2011 in Cotonou (Benin) and of subsequent consultations with various stakeholders. It also reflects the desire of African ministers expressed at the December 2008 meeting to find an alternative to the stalled negotiations on the cotton issue at the WTO. The Road Map identifies the challenges facing the cotton sector at the Pan-African level (i.e. increasing productivity, improving marketing and increasing added value) and wants to play a consolidation role for the three regional strategies. Similarly, it seeks to strengthen the linkages between the different strategies; thus the document also includes a section on sharing experiences. 27. The COS chairman reminds those present that the Road Map does not create another Action Framework but gives it a Pan-African dimension through which cotton regional strategies should find relationship opportunities. With respect to this document, the means by which the coordination and articulation of regional strategies that have been approved or remain to be approved, have yet to be defined. 28. The COMESA representative insists on the fact that the Road Map must meet the needs of the sectors and improve them. African development mechanisms will not work optimally as long as the Regional Economic Communities are excluded from them. 29. The chairman recommends a bottom-up approach. In other words, he encourages the three regions concerned to devise pertinent support proposals beyond their respective strategies, giving them a pan-african dimension. 30. The ACTIF representative asks for more information on the possible role of national and regional associations in the future institutional set-up of the Road Map. These associations must not compete but work together. 31. The representative of France, speaking on behalf fo EU Member States (MS) wonders how the Road Map fits in with regional agricultural policies such as WAEMU s PAU or ECOWAS s ECOWAP.

5 Page As for the funding agencies meeting, the representative of France is is of the view that preliminary information circulated should have been more detailed to attract donors. In addition, he asks whether preparatory work had been done with Member States at the European level. Discussions held with certain partners seemed insufficient. Examples of initiatives taken in preparing for the AAACP dissemination workshop for the Pacific region should be considered for the next meeting with financial partners. What is the link between COS-Coton and working groups based in Brussels (e.g. ACP, ProBA, CODEV)? 33. Still concerning the preparations for the funding-raising workshop, the COS chairman is disappointed that a document listing the projects to be financed was not made available; the TFP could have studied it prior to the meeting. This document would have made it easier for them to make decisions. The report of the workshop held in Bmako will be distributed to the various TFP and used in lobbying for funding. 34. WAEMU also considers the poor participation of funding agencies in the Workshop to be regrettable. The organisation states that it had done its best to contribute to mobilising financing agencies active in the region, in particular by identifying these organisations and monitoring correspondence with them. In the future, WAEMU will work more closely with ITC to develop more specific proposals adjusted to requirements of the partners targeted. Furthermore, WAEMU plans to organise a Round Table with funding agencies and to create a WAEMU fund which should facilitate discussions with the TFP and COS-coton. The representative also believes that it is necessary to better organise priority actions defined using strategy implementation plans (IP) in the future. 35. WAEMU reminds those present that it has a cotton regional strategy. If there are articulations between it and the Road Map, it wants them to be identified. Similarly, WAEMU suggests first analysing the Road Map document which it has just received before making a decision and approving it. 36. On behalf of the ECCAS representative who was unable to attend the meeting (Mr Joël Beassem), the CU representative shared a written message given to him: ECCAS is an implementation agency for NEPAD Programmes in Central Africa. It is also responsible for implementing the CAADP at both the regional and country levesl within Central Africa with, as a result, PNIA and PRIA adopted and submitted to resource mobilisation meetings (business meetings). In other words, the ECCAS cotton strategy will be part of the ECCAS PRIA whose implementation will include the strategy which will be adopted by the coordination and monitoring committee which will be put in place. Consequently, it is appropriate that UNCTAD offer its support for the implementation of our strategy as part of the Central African Road Map because, as far as I know, there is no pan-african strategy. 37. Returning to the participation of funding agencies, the A.C.A. representative recommends layering the mobilisation approach based on their specific interests. Concerning the Road Map, he insists on how important it is for Africa to speak with one voice. So, he considers that the Road Map is useful for providing visibility to the cotton sector at the pan-african

6 Page 6 level, and particularly at the WTO level. He reminds those present that the A.C.A., AProCA and ACTIF already work at the pan-african level. 38. The World Bank representative points out that development support often works according to a scheduling logic which often requires 18 months of preparation and covers a period of five years. This is why it is important to prepare well in advance. He mentions the example of requests for IDA funds for which States lobby in order to receive the largest budget. Also, it can be difficult to obtain funds for regional programmes. To guarantee an optimal mobilisation of financing agencies, he reminds those present of the need to target the officer in charge of the cotton sector at the level of national/regional institutions participating in the programming, so that they can defend support for the sector. 39. The COMESA representative thinks that the pan-african level (Road Map) could constitute an ideal forum for coordinating donor support. He also proposes that the COS help the RECs identify donors at the regional level. As for the funding agencies in bilateral relationships, governments will have to be contacted. 40. The representative of the German cooperation agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ, states that the cotton sector is a question of primarily national interest. So, he wonders if it is relevant to deal with the question at the regional level, if priorities have not already been defined at the national level. Consequently, he is of the view that the states must be encouraged to prioritise the cotton issue in their negotiations with their partners. 41. The UNCTAD representative states that in no case does the Road Map replace regional strategies. On the contrary, it seeks to consolidate them, constituting a value-added at the continental level. Moreover, it helps to prevent waste and duplication of resources at the regional level. It is the only document that tries to draw up a complete list of all donors supporting the cotton sector. The Road Map binds and completes the three African strategies that recommend bottom-up approaches. For memory, the Road Map integrates the problems of the African cotton sector in a coherent manner (cf. Accra 2008 action plan: aid efficiency). 42. Furthermore, he states that the role of national and regional institutions in the future institutional scheme necessary for implementing the Road Map is being examined, having been submitted to the ACP Secretariat and to the European Union. Proposals are currently being studied. For its part, UNCTAD awaits observations from concerned players to define the suitable institutional scheme with them. 43. The Road Map proposes acting as a coherent framework to articulate the IP of the regional cotton strategies with regional agricultural policies. However, at this time, not all the regions have finalised and operational agricultural policies. So, UNCTAD suggests collecting observations from each REC and organising a validation meeting. Therefore, it asks that the COS facilitate liaisons between players and its members in order to give the document legitimacy.

7 Page The A.C.A. suggests that its technical commissions could be considered as working groups in which the Road Map finalisation and implementation process would be facilitated. 45. For its part, the ACP Secretariat suggests that the Road Map validation meeting be limited to regional organisations and consultants working on the document. Discussions with national entities should not be reopened as this could risk leading them to believe new strategies were being devised. In a pan-african logic, African Union authorities and regional/pan-african professional organisations should be involved. 46. When deciding on the date for the validation meeting, the ACP Secretariat representative draws the attention of those present to the institutional deadlines of the various organisations that need to be taken into consideration. 47. The AProCA representative considers that the Road Map is useful in harmonising the message that its organisation wishes to send to producers. The Road Map can provide directions for articulating strategies. He mentions the problems that the cotton sector has been exposed to in the past, i.e. falling prices, and the need to be ready to face a new price decline. Similarly, he underlines the importance of considering the problems related to the increase in input costs, to arrears/bad debts or to producers financing and equipment needs. The Road Map must spell out how it assists players. Last, the AACP representative suggests that the COS serve as an anchor for the Road Map given its recent Africanisation (cf. COS s decentralisation). Conclusions / Decisions 48. The COS chairman reminds those present of the need to develop a new awareness-raising approach for funding agencies. He suggests sending them the report of the resource mobilisation workshop backing African cotton sectors as well as project proposals established by the REC, taking account of their objectives and unique characteristics. In this approach, he reminds those present of the major role to be played by the regional cotton strategy coordination committees. 49. The chairman is pleased that the Road Map is not replacing the regional cotton strategies. He suggests that the COS Secretariat be responsible for officially contacting each REC and regional professional organisation to get them to analyse the document and submit their observations. 50. The COS must be a place for future discussions, and therefore, at the 17 th meeting, in collaboration with UNCTAD, it is suggested that CAADP authorities and major sector players be involved, in order to determine the most appropriate monitoring mechanism to make the Road Map operational.

8 Page 8 VI. Implementing the decentralisation of COS-coton and regional strategies Primary activities of Regional Cotton Focal Points (RCFP) 51. The COMESA representative reminds those present that the RCFP has been operational for the southern and eastern region of Africa since June Since its establishment, it has focussed primarily on: (i) facilitating AAACP interventions backing the cotton sector (ii) facilitating the organisation of meetings supporting private players, such as ACTIF and MoZaZiMa (iii) aligning AAACP activities with COMESA programmes (iv) developing synergies with the activities of third-party partners (v) raising awareness about the COS and the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton in the region The representative explains, furthermore, that a report providing more detail on its interventions will soon be available. 52. Then, WAEMU representative presents the RCFP s activities since its establishment in the region on 17 March The activities include contributing to re-launching the activities of public and private players on the revised Cotton-Textile Agenda; participating in the ITC (Indonesia, Turkey and China) missions, and monitoring the interventions of the IOs of the AAACP in Côte d Ivoire. WAEMU/WAEMU also works to raise the awareness of regional players of the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton, particularly through InfoCoton newsletters. 53. The ECCAS RCFP, appointed in late May 2011, reminds those present that, since its establishment in late May 2011, ECCAS has actively participated in the regional cotton strategy validation workshop and in the pan-african cotton conference in June 2011 (Cotonou). He also mentions a few administrative problems resulting from the fact that the Memorandum of Understanding between ECCAS and ITC has still not been signed (cf. point 7).The RCFP also points out that the joint ministers meeting (ministers of agriculture) between ECCAS and CEMAC has been postponed several times. This meeting is intended to validate the regional cotton strategy to mobilise financial resources from regional organisations like BEAC. This meeting cannot be held before January The RCFP adds that one of the organisation s main concerns continues to be the establishment of the coordination and monitoring committee for the regional strategy and its secretariat. A multi-country mission must be held to identify national Focal Points and the members of the coordination committee. This visit should have been organised in December after the ECCAS/CEMAC Ministers of Agriculture meeting in N djamena (Chad). However, since this meeting was postponed, so was the mission and the establishment of the strategy s coordination and monitoring committee. 55. Last, he reminds those present that the Focal Point s contract expires on 31 December 2011 and wonders how activities will be conducted after this date.

9 Page The ITC representative tempers the complications related to the failure to sign the memorandum (cf. point 9). He also highlights that the ECCAS RCFP failed to mention various activities in which ECCAS participated (e.g. the Nairobi workshop, the trade mission in China, etc.). Status of the COS-coton decentralisation process 57. The CU representative reminds those present that the aim of decentralising COS decided during the mid-term review of the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton was to enhance its ownership by the regions, to improve coordination between Brussels and the regions and to better monitor activities. This monitoring is very useful and is required as part of an annual update undertaken by the Partnership. 58. As the AAACP nears its end, the question arises as to the decentralisation process and its financing beyond 31 December Although intra-acp cotton programme of the 10 th FED will contribute to decentralisation, it will not be operational until the second half of The representative of France notes that for Member States, the decentralisation that they had encouraged is becoming reality. Decentralisation will give new energy to the actions of COS-coton. The existence and functioning of Focal Points will help to improve monitoring and guarantee greater player participation. The cotton-sector support programme under the 10 th FED is also a positive accomplishment. 60. The FAO representative states that the emphasis of the cotton programme (under the 10 th FED) must not focus only on production. Producers bargaining power also needs to be improved, and the fragmentation of the offer addressed, which penalises competitiveness. Furthermore, the FAO wonders how the transition between the AAACP and the new cotton programme will be organised. 61. The UNCTAD representative states that it will be important to clearly consider the WAEMU s terms of reference. Furthermore, regional organisations will also have an important role to play, particularly during the transition phase which will begin in early The WAEMU is concerned about a possible gap between the two programmes. It wonders about the existence of the latest WAEMU assistance measures under the AAACP. Since the WAEMU Commission has agreed to financial sacrifices to keep personnel, it would be appropriate that additional support for WAEMU be identified, until internal resources can take over. 63. The European Commission (EC) programme manager reminds those present that a contribution supporting the WAEMU (under the establishment of COS-coton regional offices) is planned under the new programme which plans to continue COS-coton decentralisation. The transition period should be as short as possible. He also asks the RO to

10 Page 10 examine how to guarantee continuity and strengthen the WAEMU and to initiate discussions on how to make them autonomous. 64. The COS chairman insists on the importance of maintaining project momentum. Similarly, he asks the RO to not abandon the work already accomplished under the regional strategies and to assist the transition process between the two programmes. Furthermore, he recognises the financial efforts made by certain RO and encourages them to continue to do so. 65. The WAEMU representative underlines the lack of communication between the implementation agencies of the AAACP present in West Africa and the WAEMU Commission. Currently, the regional strategy should allow the elaboration of monitoring and guarantee better communication between the players. Last, it asks the EC about the consistency between the cotton programme under the 10 th FED and priority projects defined in the strategies. Similarly, it wonders about its own involvement in the latter. 66. The EC programme manager states that 15% of the funds allocated to the new Programme are dedicated to making the regional strategies operational, which includes supports to the establishment of COS-coton regional offices and ACP central coordination as well as the coordination of the regional strategies. This programme is based on the three regional strategies. VII. Miscellaneous 67. The A.C.A. expresses the wish that support could be provided to PR-PICA activities which cover cotton societies of six WAEMU countries 68. The WAEMU states that it is very familiar with the PR-PICA and that it attends its workshops. Support for activities is being sought. 69. The MoZaZiMa thanks COS-coton for having accepted its request to participate in the meeting as an observer. It has learned a great deal from the various discussions. The MoZaZiMa also states that the national cotton strategies of the countries it represents are aligned with the COMESA regional cotton strategy. 70. The ACP Secretariat thinks that a new COS configuration is needed to guarantee the coordination of the implementation of regional cotton strategies. So, it is desirable that all regional organisations having a cotton strategy become executive members of COS. The same goes for the CAADP Secretariat which should, initially, be invited as an observer. Furthermore, on behalf of COS, it thanks the implementation agencies for their work supporting the African cotton sector. And although they do not yet have a role within the new cotton programme, he hopes to be able to count on their cooperation. 71. The COS chairman suggests including the question of enlarging COS to all RO (having a cotton strategy) in the agenda of the next COS meeting.

11 Page The Coordination Unit draws the attention of the AACP and the A.C.A. to the fact that their requests, as appropriate, should be sent to the Coordination Unit/COS Secretariat by end December 2011 or early January 2012 at the latest. 73. The chairman thanks the IO of the AAACP for their contribution to the implementation of the EU-Africa Partnership on cotton; MoZaZiMa for their productive participation in this meeting; and the regional organisations and all COS members for their participation in this meeting. He also thanks all those who have contributed to the organisation and conducting of all meetings just held in Bamako. 27/04/2012