Plenary Sessions

Saturday 29 October, the session started in the morning with meetings of the Youth and Women's fora. Two workshops were organised by Mozambique in the afternoon to study local projects. The first was to the National Institute of Health, where a presentation on the country's experience with the Covid-19 crisis took place, followed by a visit to the laboratory. The second workshop was on disaster management, at the National Institute for Disaster Management at their facilities at the Pequenos Libombos Dam in the Boane District, an hour outside Maputo.

Sunday 30 October, the three JPA Standing Committees of the JPA met and the JPA Bureau held its meeting, finalising the preparation of the assembly.

Monday 31 October, the official opening of the JPA took place in the presence of Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi.

The afternoon session focused on the European Commission. In the presence of Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for Democracy and Demography, a debate took place followed by question time. The last topic of the day was a keynote debate on the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine on food supplies in OACPS countries and beyond.

Tuesday 1 November began with an exchange of views on the four draft texts submitted by the JPA Drafting Committee on the new draft rules of procedure for the Assemblies under the upcoming post-Cotonou Agreement. The second keynote debate followed, on the fight against terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa. The morning session ended with a debate on the first urgent topic 'Global challenges of climate change cooperation for adaptation and mitigation in the wake of COP 27'.

The debate on the second urgent topic 'Ensuring market access for OACPS Commodity producing countries through enhancing sustainable consumption and production patterns' took place in the afternoon. This was followed by the third keynote debate on 'A new framework to address biodiversity crisis: Leveraging ACP-EU Partnership in shaping the new framework to halt the loss of biodiversity and promote its sustainable use and conservation in the wake of COP 15'.

Wednesday 2 November was devoted to statements by and discussions with the Council, a voting session, reports from the youth and women's' fora and reports on the workshops.

The resolutions adopted can be found here.

On Saturday 2 April, the morning session opened with a statement and a lively debate with Jutta Urpilainen, Member of the Commission with responsibility for international partnerships. Topics discussed included the post-Cotonou ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, the Global Gateway, the Russia-Ukraine war and its consequences, climate change, technology transfer, and food security. This was followed by a lively debate on the "Threats to stability, security and democracy in Western and Sahelian Africa". Most Members recognised the complexity of the situation and called for the need to address the root causes of violence and instability in the region.

The afternoon session continued with the topical debate on "Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its global impact" (with Nataliya Bugayova, National Security Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War, former Chief Executive Officer of the Kyiv Post). The discussion was lively as well as controversial. Two other discussions followed - on "Enhancing the resilience of small island developing states against climate change and natural disasters" (urgent resolution) and on "Overcoming the global COVID-19 pandemic: cooperation for economic recovery and investments to achieve Universal Health Coverage" (with Jakkie Cilliers, Chairperson of the Board and Head of African Futures & Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria).

On Sunday 3 April, following a timely debate on "Building international solidarity to address the global education crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic", the ACP-EU JPA celebrated "20 years of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement and the future OACPS-EU parliamentary cooperation" through an enriching debate with a diverse set of speakers, including a strong focus on the voice of the youth. Two former JPA Co-Presidents also participated in the discussions, namely Mr Fitz Jackson from Jamaica (Co-President, 2013-2015) and Mr Joseph Owona Kono from Cameroon (Co-President, 2017- 2019). Looking to the future, a debate on the "Draft Rules of Procedure for the JPA under the post-Cotonou Agreement" took place. The Rules of the JPA - prepared by a Drafting Committee over a one-year period - would be complemented by three sets of Rules for the RPAs and consequently adopted by the JPA in the coming months.