EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
EU News: From 9 to 11 of May 2011 José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and Andris Piebalgs, Development Commissioner, re-emphasised (at a conference in Istanbul) the European Commission's leading role in helping the world's least developed countries (LDCs) out of poverty.
As the largest donor to the LDCs, with €15bn of aid in 2010, the EU urged other partners to match its pledge to provide 0.15-0.20% of its GNI to LDCs. It also called for a renewed global partnership of LDCs and both developed & emerging economies, working together with civil society & the private sector, to ensure a joined up approach to helping the LDCs meet their development goals.
DECC: The Government has submitted 12 applications from UK projects to the European Investment Bank (EIB) for consideration in the next round of the EU’s New Entrant Reserve (NER) scheme – a fund worth around EUR4.5bn to support carbon capture & storage (CCS) and innovative renewable projects across the European Union. Up to 3 projects may be supported per Member State.
EU News: By early 2014, all shipments of wood products to the European Union from Liberia will be required to carry a license certifying their legal origin. A Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) to that end was signed on 9 May by the EU and Liberia, which contains over half of the remaining rainforest in West Africa.
It is the sixth in a series of bilateral accords that are negotiated between the EU and timber producing countries (agreements have been agreed most recently with Indonesia, Central Africa Republic, Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and Ghana).
