African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP)

The Secretariat is responsible for the administrative management of the ACP Group. The ACP Group consists of 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It assists the Group's decision-making and advisory organs in carrying out their work. The ACP Group´s main objectives are: -sustainable development of its Member-States and their gradual integration into the global economy, which entails making poverty reduction a matter of priority and establishing a new, fairer, and more equitable world order ; -coordination of the activities of the ACP Group in the framework of the implementation of ACP-EC Partnership Agreements; -consolidation of unity and solidarity among ACP States, as well as understanding among their peoples ; -establishment and consolidation of peace and stability in a free and democratic society. The ACP Secretariat's headquarters is located in Brussels (Belgium). It is headed by an Executive Secretary-General who is responsible for implementing the Group's international policy, as well as directing and coordinating its cooperation policy. The Secretariat, under the direction of the ACP Group's policy-making organs (Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, Council of Ministers, Committee of Ambassadors), is responsible for: -carrying out the tasks assigned it by the Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government, Council of Ministers, Committee of Ambassadors and the ACP Parliamentary Assembly; -contributing to the implementation of the decisions of these organs; -monitoring the implementation of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement; -assisting the ACP organs and joint institutions created in the framework of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreements. The head of the ACP Secretariat is Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who took up office on March 1st 2010, after being selected by the ACP Council of Ministers in November 2009. His term of office runs until 28th February 2015.