Bulletins

With the beginning of this new year it is my hope that each of you will have your sincerest wishes realized, that we reach greater prosperity and achieve social justice. The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States was delighted to host at ACP House more than 120 participants at the showcase of the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme in December as part of the EU Raw Materials Week.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States is committed to encouraging knowledge exchange and we are delighted to see that already the knowledge generated by the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme is finding its way into policy. In Fiji, Draft Guidelines on River Gravel Extraction and Hard Rock Quarrying developed by the Department of Mineral Resources.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States is proud to be supporting knowledge exchange in the minerals sector. Industrial minerals, construction materials, dimension stones and semi-precious stones can, with greater attention and the right policies, be drivers of domestic economic development.

We have a great deal to share with you and we hope that this will be the start of a conversation about how we can work together. From toothpaste to paints, and buildings to plates, the mining of industrial minerals, construction materials, dimension stones and semi-precious stones are intrinsic to everyday life.