Proposal on the position to be adopted by the Community within the ACP-EC Council of Ministers regarding the accession of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement

On 16 May 2003, by Decision No 1/2003 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers, Timor-Leste was accepted as a signatory to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, hereinafter called the Cotonou Agreement. The Decision of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers approving its accession stipulated that Timor-Leste would not have immediate access to the resources of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF), but would only benefit, as a temporary special arrangement, from funds earmarked for regional cooperation.

The Council Decision did not take account of the fact that after ratification of the Cotonou Agreement, Timor-Leste will no longer qualify for the development assistance which has been provided until now under EU Council Regulation No 443/92 (the ALA Regulation). So far Timor-Leste has not ratified the Cotonou Agreement.

In order to enable Timor-Leste to ratify it and become a full Party to the Agreement, the Council of Ministers, adjusted the overall amount of the Community’s financial assistance to the ACP States under the 9th EDF to allow Timor-Leste to benefit from EDF funds for the rest of the period covered by the 9th EDF.

Therefore, with the full participation of Timor-Leste in the Agreement, Article 2 of Decision No 1/2003 of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers of 16 May 2003 should be amended to state that Timor-Leste will benefit from the 9th EDF funds for the rest of the period covered by the 9th EDF.

EUR-Lex: COM(2004)0609: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2004:0609:FIN

ESO: Background information: Relations between Timor-Leste and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/relations-between-timor-leste-and-the-european-union/

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