Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 798717,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/798717/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 288,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "May 15, 2018 SENATE DEBATES 44 Sen. Poghisio",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to second the report. This is a comprehensive report of the activities of the African Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly. In the 9th Parliament, I represented our Parliament as a delegate to the ACP-EU with the late hon. J.J Kamotho. I remember going through the same issues that are going on up to today, mostly on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) and also on the European Development Fund (EDF). It is important for the House to be briefed on these activities since Europe is one of our big markets. The EU which is in partnership with the ACP group bring together a possibility of enriching our cultures, economic exchanges and understanding of the political situations in these two regions of the world. The ACP makes a country understand that it is a big country even when it is small. The fact that we are 45 million strong population-wise, we are on the same platform and taken equally with a country which has a population of about 10,000 people. The small countries of the Pacific, like Micronesia and Vanuatu, have small populations and economies but argue the same way as strong economies. We ask that we share these experiences. I commend our delegations that have gone there for fighting so hard for Kenya by negotiating through the EPAs. We have a strong economy because we are able to do business with Europe. The Kenya horticultural products are of high quality. Every time you attend these meetings you hear about how we must improve the quality of our markets and products. It helps us to compete in terms of quality. I commend this delegation for this report. I urge Members to read the report to understand what EPAs are and the fact that we are on the 11th EDF. We can take advantage of that Fund to get our development financed and so on. When we were there, we were still struggling with the Cotonou Agreements. Now we are dealing with Post-Cotonou agreements, which is good because we are now broken into smaller groups that we can engage as Africa and ACP. I second this report and urge Members to read it, get briefed and understand what happens trade-wise and in political and social committees in the ACP-EU Joint Assembly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I second."
}