A coalition of nations from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific formed the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) in 1975 as a result of the Georgetown Agreement. The organization, formerly known as the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP), has as its main goals the eradication of poverty in its member countries as well as sustainable development. The Cotonou Agreement with the European Union has been signed by every member state with the exception of Cuba.
The Lome Conventions were replaced by the Cotonou Agreement, which was signed in Cotonou, Benin, in June 2000. The partnership is expanded to include new actors such as civil society, the commercial sector, trade unions, and municipal authorities. This is one of the main ways in which it differs from the Lomé Convention. These will have access to financial resources, participate in consultations and the drafting of national development strategies, and carry out programs.
OACPS states include a large number of tiny island developing nations; the fourth Lome Convention was updated in Mauritius in 1995 and offers island nations special consideration in this pact. Over 1.5 billion people and more than half of the UN seats are collectively represented by the EU and OACPS members.
The agreement, which was initially set to expire in February 2020, has been extended until November 2021 and is built on three pillars:
- Economic and trade cooperation,
- Political cooperation,
- Development cooperation
A new deal that would replace the Cotonou deal was signed by the EU and the OACPS in April 2021. The goal of this agreement is to increase the EU and ACP nations’ ability to work together to address global concerns.
It establishes common guidelines and addresses the following top priorities:
- Migration and mobility,
- Human and social development,
- Peace and security,
- Democracy and human rights,
- Sustainable economic growth and development.
The current trade agreements between the ACP and the EU are built on economic partnership accords. These provide seven regional connections between the EU and the ACP nations.
- Region of the CARIFORUM (Caribbean): Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Antigua and Barbuda are some of the other countries in the region.
- West Africa: Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Togo are among the nations that belong to this group.
- Central Africa: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, and So Tomé and Prncipe.
- South and eastern Africa: Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Sudan.
- East African neighborhood: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi.
- community for development in Southern Africa. South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini, and Mozambique.
- The Pacific Ocean: Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, and Palau.
Objectives
The primary goals of the ACP Group are:
- Development of its Member-States in a sustainable manner and their eventual integration into the world economy, which requires giving poverty reduction top priority and creating a new, more just, and more equal global order;
- Coordination of ACP Group initiatives within the context of ACP-EC Partnership Agreement implementation;
- Consolidation of cooperation and understanding between the people of the ACP States;
- Peace and stability are established and strengthened in a free and democratic society.
ACP–EU development cooperation
With the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which established the first common European development policy, the European Union (EU) and the nations of the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) began their development cooperation in 1957. 31 overseas collectivities and territories (OCTs) were given associated status by the Treaty of Rome, which also called for the establishment of an EDF to provide financial and technical support to the nations that were still ruled by the European Union at the time. Yet more significantly, the six EEC members pledged to support the prosperity of the colonies and ACP–EU development cooperationthrough the Treaty of Rome, which was signed by all six of the EEC’s founding members. The EU Member States have up till now supported the EDF outside of the EU budget by monetary contributions connected to particular contribution shares, or “keys,” which are negotiated. The EDF is currently the only EU policy tool that receives funding using a unique key that is distinct from the EU budget key and that takes into account the relative interests of various Member States.