ACP-EU cooperation: the new Samoa agreement finally signed
ACP-EU cooperation: the new Samoa agreement finally signed
European Interest | 14th November 2023
By European Interest
The new agreement will be signed on November 15 and will constitute the framework for relations between the EU and 78 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, PT), Co-president of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, will be present in Samoa during the signing of the new agreement. Speaking beforehand, he said: “As a representative of the European Parliament, I welcome the entry into force of a multilateral cooperation agreement involving more than a hundred countries across four continents. The reinforced parliamentary dimension of the new agreement increases the involvement of citizens and civil society in its achievement, and also reflects a modern effort to develop join solutions to respond to the major challenges of human development and sustainable development we all face.”
Following long negotiations and several postponements, the Samoa Agreement will be signed on November 15 by all leaders. This is a new partnership agreement between the EU and 78 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific which will frame relations between the signatories for the coming 20 years. This agreement will provisionally enter into force on January 1, 2024. It replaces the Cotonou Agreement governing ACP/EU relations since 2000 and which will expire at the end of 2023.
The European Parliament has ceaselessly called for the entry into force of a new agreement; it achieved this by integrating a strengthened parliamentary dimension with the creation of three new regional assemblies and with the maintenance of the JPA ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (APP ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly).
These three new assemblies will initiate the implementation of the new agreement with constitutive meetings currently foreseen to take place from February 18 to 21, 2024 in Angola.
