brussels.cta.int– Find some of the ACP-EU Rural Development news that CTA compiles daily and weekly providing sources and key documents:

Financing Agriculture
The 20th Brussels Development Briefing will be on ‘Financing agriculture and will take place on the 15th of September 2010. As an input to the UN Summit on MDGs to be held in New York on 22-26 September 2010, we will discuss issues related to financing development in the context of agriculture and rural development. This will include issue such as Aid and ODA, taxation (Domestic tax revenues), private investment (new donors), revenue generation. Speakers include: Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College in London, the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa in the US, CONCORD, OECD, African Development Bank, Caribbean Development Bank, YARA, African regional framers organizations.
Land access, land acquisitions and rural development
Land is an asset of enormous importance for billions of rural dwellers in the developing world, and especially in ACP countries. The nature of property rights and their degree of security vary greatly, depending on competition for land, the degree of market penetration and the broader institutional and political context.
EU helps Malawi to improve 1,500 km of rural feeder roads
The European Union (EU) Delegation to Malawi has agreed to finance contracts worth €13.15 million (approximately MWK 2.7 billion) to improve rural feeder roads in the southern African country. In a press release made available to Nyasa Times o, the EU-says the funding will help upgrade 1,500 km of feeder roads to ensure year-round access.
High Level Meeting of the Africa-EU Energy Partnership
Nearly 600 million people in Africa lack access to modern energy services. Africa and Europe have joined forces to meet that challenge in a partnership of equals. The Africa-EU Energy Partnership now convenes it s first Ministerial Meeting to shape the way forward, agree on joint political targets for implementation until 2020 and launch a Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme. Energy Ministers from South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Cabo Verde and Togo have already committed to come to Vienna.
EU invests 20 million euros into COMRAP
The European Union (EU) has invested about 20 million euros into the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African Regional Agro Inputs Programme (COMRAP) meant to help enhance food production and marketing in the region.
Europe heat wave sparks surge in grain prices
Surging European grain prices following a scorching heat wave in recent weeks are likely to raise flour prices, and farmers are facing higher bills for animal feed, industry executives and analysts said. But some analysts say they doubt whether recent price rises are sustainable in view of large global grain stocks and the fact that overall grain supplies are currently still satisfactory.
EU urged to promote 'territorial vision' of farming
Meeting in Brussels, agriculture stakeholders from across Europe have called on the EU to move away from intensive farming to a more sustainable model that supports the economic renaissance of rural areas. A conference organised by the European Commission in Brussels (19-20 July) heard contributions from a variety of interest groups as the EU executive prepares proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) later this year.
Commission proposes to gradually resume development aid to Niger
Today the European Commission has proposed to the Council to close consultations under article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement – the political framework for EU relations with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific - thereby offering to resume progressively delivery of development aid to Niger alongside the return to the constitutional order in the country.
ACP ambassadors and representatives meet the EIB
On 22 July 2010 the European Investment Bank welcomed the representatives of the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to Luxembourg. The 80-strong delegation consisted of ambassadors, chargés d'affaires and other diplomats. It was the second meeting of this kind and provided an opportunity for the Bank to discuss key activities with senior representatives of the ACP region: the ACP countries’ Committee of Ambassadors and the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat.