Kampala — African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Leaders have called on the international community to agree on a global strategy to stabilise oil prices at affordable levels in order to protect the growth prospects of the developing countries.

At the close of the sixth Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government held in Accra, Ghana, last week, the leaders urged the United Nations to convene an International Summit to address the problems.

They want the Summit particularly for Net-Fuel Importing developing countries, and propose solutions to high oil prices, and its impact on the livelihoods of people.

ACP Leaders, who met under the presidency of Ghanaian President John Kufuor, also committed themselves to develop alternative sources of energy as a means of mitigating the impact of rising oil prices.

On the food price crisis, the leaders reaffirmed in the Accra Declaration their commitment to alleviate the current food price crisis and its humanitarian impact on ACP States and Regions, through increased production, productivity, sharing best practices and experiences.

They also re-iterated their commitment for the development and strengthening of agricultural value added activities as an effective means of enhancing access to affordable nutritive food products at national and regional levels.

Leaders also urged partners and international institutions to assist ACP States and Regions by providing financial assistance to overcome the structural and systemic problems of food security through short, medium and long-term measures.

They also welcomed and supported the proposal of the European Commission to establish a 1 billion Euro Food Facility for a rapid response to soaring food prices in developing countries.

However, ACP leaders urged the European Council and European Parliament for the early approval of the facility, and request the Commission to extend the benefits of this Facility to all ACP States, irrespective of their level of income and socio-economic development, as well as to channel the resources through national, regional and international mechanisms as being proposed by the European Parliament.

The Summit also welcomed recent global initiatives taken with a view to addressing the current food crisis in developing countries.

A statement from ACP on October 10 said the leaders agreed to endorse the Declaration on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) adopted by the ACP Council of Ministers at its 87th Session held in June 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

They noted that some ACP States have initialled the full EPA concept, while others have expressed serious concerns about both the process and content, in particular in relation to the interim EPAs.

"Further progress in the EPA process must be based on adequate attempts to address these legitimate concerns that would allow for all ACP States to become part of the Agreements, the statement said.

" EPAs must be instruments for sustainable economic growth and development that shall build on existing regional integration processes, and promote further the unity, cohesion and solidarity of the ACP Group" it added.