DG DEVCO is responsible for designing EU development policies and delivering aid through programmes and projects across the world. It incorporates the former Development and EuropeAid DGs. EuropeAid plays a crucial role in designing state-of-the-art development policy for all developing countries, enhancing policy coherence for development while further improving implementation and delivery mechanisms, defining future development policy within the EU, as well as contributing to the setting of standards internationally and to global challenges ahead. EuropeAid’s work is carried out with the ultimate aims of reducing poverty in the world, ensuring sustainable development, and promoting democracy, peace and security. As well as designing policies to achieve these objectives, Europe- Aid is responsible for implementing the EU’s external aid instruments. EU external aid is implemented by DEVCO staff in more than 80 EU Delegations around the world. Delegations design projects and activities, prepare annual programmes, tender for contractors and implement and supervise implementation.

EuropeAid coordinates the actions of the EU institutions, the EU Member States and other EU actors around the Union’s core values, objectives and common priorities. EuropeAid delivers aid through a set of financial instruments with a focus on ensuring the quality of EU aid and its effectiveness. An active and proactive player in the development field, EuropeAid promotes good governance, human and economic development and tackles universal issues, such as fighting hunger and preserving natural resources.

The CDE is an ACP-EU joint Institution created within the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and predominantly financed through the European Development Fund (EDF). CDE’s mandate given in the Cotonou Agreement positions the Centre as an Institution dedicated to support private sector development in ACP countries.

CDE provides non-financial services to ACP companies and to joint initiatives of ACP and EU economic operators in various economic sectors, with the main aim to increase competitiveness of ACP enterprises.

CDE’s specific objectives are: (i) facilitating ACP-EU business partnerships; (ii) developing enterprise support services in ACP (capacity building with private sector organizations and service providers); (iii) assisting investment promotion activities and organizations; (iv) assisting technology transfer and management skills.

DG AGRI is responsible for the implementation of agriculture and rural development policy, the latter being managed in conjunction with the other DGs which deal with structural policies. It deals with all aspects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) including farm support, market measures, rural development policy, quality policy, financial and legal matters, analysis and evaluation, as well as international relations relating to agriculture. The mission of the DG AGRI is to promote the sustainable development of Europe’s agriculture and to ensure the well-being of its rural areas. The mission will be achieved through: (i) promoting a robust and competitive agricultural sector which respects high environmental and production standards, ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community; (ii) contributing to sustain- able development of rural areas, in particular through helping the agricultural sector to adapt to new challenges, protecting the environment and the countryside, and improving the quality of life in rural areas, whilst ensuring growth and jobs in the countryside; (iii) promoting the European agricultural sector in world trade.

DG SANCO is in charge of updating and ensuring proper application of EU laws on food safety, consumers’ rights and protection of people’s health. DG SANCO also manages international relations on food safety, animal health, welfare, nutrition and plant health with third countries, international organizations, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and ensures science- based risk management.

Due to the impact of EU regulations on trading partners and regulators worldwide, DG SANCO policies loom large in the WTO and EU bilateral trade relations with many countries. The need to safeguard the EU against animal dis- eases remains a priority. Being EU the world’s largest food importer, food safety in third countries must be part of this challenge. The main areas of intervention are the following: (i) coordination of EU border inspections of food, plants and animals, to ensure common operating standards; (ii) a stronger push for animal welfare concerns to become a mainstream part of EU food chain policy; (iii) cooperation with Member States and economic oper- ators to implement the rules on hygiene and food and feed safety at a reasonable cost; (iv) cooperation among EU veterinary agencies, to combat animal diseases; (v) cooperation with and between EU laboratories to level up the quality of the supporting scientific work on all food chain health threats; (vi) a worldwide network of surveil- lance agencies, based on current cooperation within the EU, to ensure early warning of any real or potential food safety threats; (vii) training of Member States and third country regulators to ensure that local enforcement of EU rules is of a sustained high level of consistency. Part of DG SANCO is the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), responsible for ensuring the proper implementation and enforcement of the Community legislation on food safety, animal health, plant health and animal. In terms of capacity building to Member States and third countries, in 2006 DG SANCO launched a training programme called “Better Training for Safer Food” (BTSF) to help ensure that everyone is competing on a level playing field and to make intra-EU trade easier.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade (DG TRADE) is in charge of implementing the EU’s common commercial policy. Its aim is to contribute to shaping a trade environment that is good for people and for business. This includes maintaining the global trade sys- tem and ensuring it adapts to a fast-changing world, creating growth and jobs for Europeans by increasing their opportunities to trade with the world, ensuring that trade is fair by making sure all trading partners play by the rules, helping developing countries trade their way out of poverty, and contributing to sustain- able development. DG TRADE’s responsibilities cover trade in goods and services, commercial aspects of intel- lectual property, investment, and other trade-related rules. DG TRADE works closely with the WTO and other multilateral institutions. It is responsible for negotiating multilateral and bilateral trade agreements and as such it is the main EU player in trade and investment negotiations with partner countries, including the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and Free-Trade

Agreements (FTAs) with other parts of the world. DG TRADE is also responsible for preferential trade schemes, notably the General System of preferences (GSP). In order to ensure coherent EU policies, DG TRADE works closely with many other services of the European Commission, including: DG Development and Cooperation on the Trade, Growth and Development Policy and the implementation of the Aid for Trade Strategy; DG Environment, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and DG Climate Action on sustainable development issues; etc. DG TRADE has close working relationship with the European External Action Service (EEAS), other European Institutions, notably the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Commit- tee, as well as with EU Member States.

DG TAXUD is in charge of developing and managing the Customs Union, a foundation of the EU, and developing and implementing tax policy across the EU for the benefit of citizens, businesses and the Member States. Particular attention is given to the Internal Market, by making sure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

The Directorate General works to provide solutions in the tax and customs fields to Member States and economic operators, thus enabling them to respond to current economic, social and environmental challenges, both at European and international level. More specifically the Directorate General’s activity aims at: (i) simplifying and modernizing the tax and customs administrative rules and procedures with which European economic operators have to comply; (ii) assisting Member States to apply correctly EU tax and customs acquis as well as monitoring the proper transposition and application of tax and customs legislation; (iii) managing and securing the common external border, combating the flow of illegal trade and reinforcing the security of the international supply chain; (iv) developing a coherent, modern and simple VAT system; (v) working towards a coherent direct tax strategy designed to limit distortions which arise from the interaction of the different tax systems of the Member States, with particular emphasis on company taxation and capital income; (vi) working at an international level to improve transparency and information exchange and to ensure coherence between taxation, customs and wider objectives of the Community particularly in the areas of commercial policy, development aid and “Wider Europe”; (vii) reinforcing candidate countries’ capacity to apply the customs and tax community acquis; (viii) adapting energy taxation to the needs of a low carbon economy; (ix) assisting Member States to combat fraud and tax evasion;

The EIB is an EU institution that finances capital investment projects in EU countries and in countries that have cooperation agreements with the EU. In developing countries, it concentrates its efforts on fostering private-sector-led initiatives that promote economic growth and have a positive impact on the wider community and region. It also supports public sector projects, typically in infrastructure, that are critical for private sector development and the creation of a competitive business environment.

CTA is an ACP-EU institution working in the field of information for development. It operates under the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement. Its mission is to advance food and nutritional security, increase prosperity and encourage sound natural resource management by pro- viding access to information and knowledge, facilitating policy dialogue and strengthening the capacity of agricultural and rural development institutions and communities in ACP countries. It focuses on three key areas: (i) agricultural policies in ACP countries; (ii) promotion of profitable smallholder value chains for marketable products and (iii) building ACP capacity in information and communication and knowledge management (ICKM). The CTA’s main partners are ACP national and regional bodies as well as a wide network of ACP-EU public and private sector bodies and international organizations around the world. CTA is funded by the EU.