The Committee strongly recommends that each DAG should be able to discuss matters relevant to the civil society or sustainable development (i.e. economic development, social development or environmental protection, or sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, or SME issues), including major impacts arising out of implementation measures.

( For both the EU and partners to fully benefit from market opening and to make it sustainable, partners’ economies must be helped to become more buoyant. Partner countries have a largely untapped potential for growth, and as their principal and – by reason of geographic proximity – obvious trading partner, the EU has a direct interest in supporting their economic development. The logic that linked the development of the Internal Market and that of the Structural Funds also applies in relation to our Neighbourhood, and should feed into the debate on the next Financial Framework.

V. whereas external trade can be an important tool for social and economic development when countries are able to protect their markets at the first stage and to gradually open their markets at the next stage when they have a strong institutional framework and clear social and environmental rules; whereas LDCs in Africa have undertaken deeper and faster liberalisation than LDCs in Asia and whereas LDCs in Asia have generally performed better in terms of poverty reduction and have also been more successful in developing more market-d ...[+++]ynamic manufacturing exports, partly through regional trade and investment links, and due to their strong institutional framework,

9. Urges the Commission to act in accordance with the Cotonou objective of poverty eradication and to support the social and economic development of each regional grouping, and in particular the economically weaker countries in each grouping who might otherwise be marginalised, and to accept the necessity of greater flexibility — in terms of the timetable for negotiations regarding progressive trade opening, the length of the transition period and the degree of product coverage — if long-term sustainable development is to be the overa ...[+++]ll outcome of the EPAs; stresses that EPAs should help ACP countries to integrate in the global economy, by stimulating development through trade and taking into consideration the asymmetry of their economies;

Providing attractive information about such jobs and the opportunities they offer, and relating school curricula and learning experiences to this type of work, would help in the removal of a number of bottlenecks in the labour market, and consequently in the economic development of the sectors concerned which is being frustrated by the shortage of skilled workers in these fields.

(b) to advise the Commission on the establishment and development of a policy on orphan medicinal products for the European Union;