At its 39th session from 19 to 20 June 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers agreed, in a Joint Declaration, to proceed with the orderly closing of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (‘CDE’), and to the amendment of Annex III to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (‘ACP-EU Partnership Agreement’) and to that end, to delegate powers to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors to take the matter forward with a view to the adoption of the necessary decisions.
(2)
In its Decision No 4/2014 (3), the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors recalls that the closure of the CDE is to respect the competences of the CDE's supervisory authorities set out in Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement and the detailed arrangements laid down by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers in its Joint Declaration.
(3)
Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement requires the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors to monitor the overall strategy of the CDE and supervise the work of the Executive Board.
(4)
Annex III to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement requires the CDE Executive Board to lay down the financial and staff regulations and the rules of operations.
(5)
The request from the CDE Executive Board to the ACP-EU Committee of Ambassadors by letter dated 19 October 2015 explains that, in the context of the closing down of the CDE, the CDE Executive Board wishes to derogate from Article 27(1) and (5) of Decision No 5/2004 of the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors of 17 December 2004 concerning the Financial Regulation of the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (‘CDE Financial Regulation’) and seeks prior approval from the supervisory authorities.
(6)
The modification of, or derogations to, the CDE Financial Regulation and CDE Staff Regulations (4), depending on the needs that may arise from the implementation of the orderly closure process of the CDE, necessitates a flexible procedure.
(7)
The requirement of the appointment of a firm of auditors for a period of three years, as set out in Article 27(1) of the CDE Financial Regulation, and the requirement for this firm to draw up each year a statutory audit report, in accordance with Article 27(5) of that Regulation, need to be adapted in order to ensure a more efficient procedure in the context of the closing-down of the organisation,
