Latest News

Mid-term review "in country" phase extended to 15 November - 21.10.09 - The European Commission has put back the deadline for its Heads of Mission in ACP countries to submit draft mid-term review reports until 15 November.  This is to ensure that there civil society and other non state actors are engaged in the preparation of the draft report.  The Commission's Director General for Development has informed Heads of Mission that there must be an effective involvement of civil society for the draft reports to be accepted in Brussels. See note to delegations


08-06-09- Gabon's leader Bongo died - The president of Gabon, Omar Bongo, has died after 41 years in power in the west central African country.  Read BBC article


New website for journalists provides single entry point to EU development cooperation. -

DevWire.eu is a unique website set up to help journalists covering EU development cooperation. The site is a comprehensive one-stop shop presenting relevant, up-to-date and reliable news from a variety of sources, such as the European Institutions, NGOs, think tanks and media.
Find the Press Release, go to Devwire.eu



EU-ACP Council of Ministers - EU-ACP Council of Ministers to be held on 29 May in Brussels. Find the provisionnal agenda here


Guidelines for MTR - 05.08.09. EC announces the guidelines for the Mid-term review will be ready by June 12th. (see here)

4.3. Mid-term review (MTR)

According to the Guidelines for Implementation of the Common Framework for Country Strategy Papers, “the NIP shall be periodically reviewed in accordance with the applicable Regulation/Agreement”. This process is called mid-term review (MTR) and is usually carried out half way through the period covered by the CSP. As is the case when defining the original CSP, the MTRs require active dialogue between the Commission delegations and the partner countries and regions.

The Guidelines add that MTRs, “should be a stock-taking exercise with the aim to critically examine recent operations, to agree any necessary changes of timing or priorities and to chart the course for coming activities within the focal sectors”.

In particular, MTRs should:

  • Keep the strategy up-to-date with developments in the country brought about by internal, regional or external events, including the poverty reduction strategy process where it exists;
  • Take into account and operationalise, as far as possible, new EC/EU policy initiatives and commitments that have an impact on third countries or, more generally, at international level, while fully respecting the principles of ownership and concentration of aid, the objectives and priorities of the EC Development Policy and the specificities of the relationship between each partner country and the EU;
  • Assess the results and performance and draw lessons;
  • Lead to a constant improvement of the quality of strategy documents, in particular to correct some weaknesses which had not been adequately taken into account in the “first generation” of CSPs.