Ambassador Dr. Patrick I. Gomes of Guyana has been appointed as the new Secretary General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.

Ambassador Gomes’ appointment took place during the 100th session of the ACP Council of Ministers in Brussels, making him the ninth Secretary General since the inception of the organisation in 1975.

“I accept with great honour this appointment on behalf of Guyana, the Caribbean and the entire ACP family. I do so with much modesty and strong commitment to serve the ACP Group to the best of my ability, to tirelessly achieve the objectives of the Georgetown Agreement, and to ensure tangible benfits to the people of our member states,” he said in his acceptance speech.

“Our solidarity and unity must take more account of the dynamic changes in our regions and ensure complementarity and coherence… With a promise of strategic and focused action, let us together rejuvenate, reposition and reinvent this unique and great organisation, the ACP Group of States.”

Dr. Gomes is the Ambassador of Guyana to the European Union and the Kingdom of Belgium, as well as other European countries and international organisations. He has a strong track record of leadership in the ACP system, currently serving as Dean of the ACP Ambassadors in Brussels and Chairman of the Working Group on Future Perspectives of the ACP Group, which submits its final report on “transforming the ACP Group into an effective global player” to the ACP Council of Ministers this week. He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Maastricht-based think tank, European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM).

The new Secretary General is expected to take office from 1 March 2015 until 28 February 2020. He will hold executive powers as Head of the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat, which is the administrative and technical body of the ACP Group.

The ACP Group is the largest inter-governmental organisation of developing countries in the world, working under a partnership treaty with the European Union, known as the Cotonou Agreement.