RESOLUTION(1)

on tourism and development in the context of the management and control of the European Development Fund (EDF)

The ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly,

- meeting in Libreville (Gabon) from 19 to 22 March 2001,

- having regard to its resolution on tourism and development adopted during the 29th session held in Nassau (Bahamas) from 11 to 14 October 1999,

A. recalling Article 24 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou (Benin) on 23 June 2000, and its "Compendium", which set out the objectives of promoting sustainable development of the tourism industry in ACP countries in general, and island ACP states in particular, as well as sub-regions and recognising its increasing importance to the growth of the services sector in ACP countries and to the expansion of their global trade, its ability to stimulate other sectors of economic activity, and the role it can play in poverty eradication,

B. noting the potentially precedent setting nature for public/private sector partnership in the tourism sector which can help to attain one of the most important goals of EU-ACP development cooperation,

1. Calls on the Community and the Member States to fully implement the provisions of Article 24 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement without delay;

2. Expects that EU-ACP cooperation to promote the sustainable development of the ACP tourism sector be conducted with the full involvement of the private sector and other civil society actors in all stages of the programming process;

3. Calls on the Commission to ensure that all future cooperation and trading arrangements take into account the EC's policy for the promotion of sustainable tourism in the developing countries [COM(1998) 563], the EC's strategy for private sector development in the ACP countries [COM(1998) 667] and the tourism provisions of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement;

4. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and the ACP countries, in accordance with the general objectives and priorities of development, to devote an appropriate proportion of EDF grants to promoting environmentally and socially acceptable tourism;

5. Believes that, in adopting such measures, particular attention should be devoted to support for small and medium-sized enterprises, especially in fields directly or indirectly linked with tourism, fostering the cultural heritage and cultural events such as museums, memorials, hotels, restaurants, management of nature parks, travel agencies, trade, local handicraft production and marketing or small industries, in order to ensure higher levels of sustainable earnings from tourism;

6. Recognises the importance of the tourism sector to the economic development of the ACP regions, and in this regard, welcomes such initiatives as the Caricom Heads of Government's decision to convene a Regional Tourism Summit on 6 to 7 July 2001 in the Bahamas with the full participation of all tourism stakeholders and with the aim of placing tourism at the heart of the Caribbean region's economic development strategy and planning;

7. Stresses, in this connection, the importance of preserving landscapes in urban and rural development planning, attaches importance to preservation of the cultural heritage and stresses the need to protect buildings and cultural sites;

8. Stresses the importance of ensuring that environment, culture and traditional ways of life are not jeopardised by tourism, and therefore calls on the EU Member States, the ACP countries, the Commission and the EIB - particularly in countries where tourism is a major activity - to seek to secure balanced policies on culture and tourism, geared to sustainable development, which should involve assessments being performed, fields of action determined and dialogues among the main participants coordinated;

9. Calls on the Commission to ensure that implementation of tourism programmes under the 8th EDF is not delayed any further, causing the resources involved to be rolled up into the 9th EDF, and that the implementation proceeds immediately in a timely fashion and in a manner that promotes the sustainable development of the sector;

10. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the DG Development and EuropeAid retain the institutional capacity to deal with the tourism sector in a manner commensurate with the sector's status as a leading provider of income and employment in ACP countries;

11. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the ACP-EU Council and the Commission.

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Joint Assembly on 22 March 2001 in Libreville (Gabon).