Ambassador Freddy Emam Zade, in charge of trade negotiations for the Dominican Republic, told El Siglo newspaper that ACP nations have felt the pressure from developed nations as these try to divide the bloc in their attempt to diminish the incidence of the African, Caribbean and Pacific nations in international organizations. He explained that whenever so many countries are working together, there will be internal and external forces that will work to divide the bloc, some because it is a threat to their interests. "this bloc of 71 countries in any world forum is a strong block that can make difficult obtaining their [developed world] objectives and easier obtaining ours [developing and under-developed countries]," he explained. He said that in the case of the ACP bloc there have been more internal forces in favor of the union than against it. The II Summit seeks to define and consolidate the interests of the group of under-developed and developing nations. He said that of the 71 members of the ACP, 56 are part of the World Trade Organization, thus the ACP bloc takes a strong participation to the round of negotiations that opens 30 November in Seattle, Washington. The WTO has 132 member-nations. The ACP bloc is the largest group of nations within the WTO. The ACP group of nations is made up of 48 African nations, 15 Caribbean nations and 8 island-states that have in common that they were colonized by European settlers and today benefit from the Lome IV trade and financial cooperation program of the European Union.
