The African Caribbean and Pacific Sugar Ministerial Group has urged the European Union to release funds earmarked for Fiji under the Accompanying Measures Support Programme.
As is customary, the ACP sugar ministers met in Port Vila on Sunday 10th June in advance of the ACP & ACP-EU Council meetings scheduled to start today.
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, participated in the meeting on behalf of the Prime Minister and Minister for Sugar, Voreqe Bainimarama.
Kubuabola thanked the ACP Sugar Ministerial Committee for the support given to Fiji by way of statements and declaration made at the Mozambique Conference urging the EU and the EC to ensure that the funds earmarked for Fiji are immediately released to assist the affected farmers, and the sugar industry as a whole, in the adjustment and adaptation process.
He noted that whilst some of the funds earmarked for 2010 had been made available for alternative livelihood and poverty alleviation programmes, it had not been channelled to the sugar industry where the funds were most needed.
