1. Ministers representing the ACP States signatory to the ACP-EU Sugar Protocol have met in Nadi, Fiji, from 30th April to 3rd May 2007, for the 10th ACP Special Ministerial Conference on Sugar to discuss strategies for managing the challenges of reform in the EU sugar sector, and the European Commission...’s recent market access offer in the context of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations.

2. In view of these unprecedented challenges Ministers underline the need, more than ever before, for unity among the ACP Sugar Protocol states and the ACP Group as a whole to uphold their interests.

3. Ministers welcome the EC market access offer in the context of the EPA negotiations, insofar as it offers additional market access opportunities for ACP products.

4. However, Ministers express great concern that with regard to sugar the EC offer aims to abolish the Sugar Protocol as from October 2009 and is thus tantamount to a unilateral renunciation of the Sugar Protocol.

5. In this context Ministers recall that the overriding objective of the EPA negotiations, as set out in the Cotonou Agreement, is to improve on the current market access situation, building on the acquis, and that no ACP state should be worse off.

6. Ministers also recall that under Article 36(4) of the Cotonou Agreement, the ACP and the EU have reaffirmed the importance of the commodity protocols and agreed on the need to review them with a view to safeguarding the benefits derived therefrom, bearing in mind the special legal status of the Sugar Protocol.

7. Ministers therefore urge the Commission and the EU to comply with these provisions and hold the joint review of the Sugar Protocol at the earliest.

8. Ministers also underline that the benefits derived from the Sugar Protocol have been identified in a recent study commissioned by the ACP, which indicates that the EU offer on sugar in no way safeguards the benefits detailed in the study.... ... 

9. Ministers note with concern that the annual sums allocated in the EU proposal for the 2007-10 period are lower than those indicated in the original amounts agreed for accompanying measures in the 2007-13 financial perspectives, and that the amounts are backloaded and subject to various restrictive conditionalities.

10. Ministers therefore urge the Commission to supplement the accompanying measures funding with de-committed 9th EDF funds, to at least 200 million euros per year, and to accelerate disbursements, so as to enable the effective implementation of the ACP multi-annual adaptation strategies (MAAS)....  The Commission is also urged to provide the required flexibilities to enable the MAAS to be adapted to changing circumstances.

11. The Chair of the 10th ACP Special Ministerial Conference on Sugar, Minister Arvin Boolell, on behalf of all delegations, thanked the Government and People of the Republic of Fiji for the warmth and generosity of their hospitality, and for the excellent arrangements made for the Conference. Holy Ramanankasina, 03/05/07.