OACPS, EU sign successor to Post-Cotonou Agreement, the Samoa Agreement

The post-Cotonou agreement, the Samoa Agreement, was signed on 15 November 2023, between the Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union (EU) in Apia, Samoa.

The new OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement was signed during the 46th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Council of Ministers in Samoa. It establishes a new legal framework for relations among the EU and 79 countries including 47 African, 16 CARIFORUM and 15 Pacific countries, and the Republic of Maldives, over the next 20 years.

The Agreement covers six priority areas including democracy and human rights; sustainable economic growth and development; climate change; human and social development; peace and security; and migration and mobility. While it establishes an overarching framework for OACPS-EU relations, there are three regional protocols for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific which focuses on the regions’ specific needs.

Source: CARICOM TODAY