Samoa Agreement: the EU and its Member States Sign a New Partnership Agreement with the Members of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States

The EU and its member states have today signed a new Partnership Agreement with the members of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), which will serve as the general legal framework for their relations over the next twenty years. This agreement succeeds the Cotonou Agreement and will be known as the “Samoa Agreement”. The Agreement covers topics such as sustainable development and growth, human rights, and peace and security.
The name of the Agreement was decided during the 46th Session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, which took place immediately before the signing ceremony, also in Samoa.
The new Partnership Agreement establishes common principles and covers the following priority areas: human rights, democracy and governance; peace and security; human and social development; sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development; environmental sustainability and climate change; migration and mobility.
The Agreement includes a common foundation, applicable to all parties, combined with three regional protocols for Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, focusing on the specific needs of each region.
The 27 EU member states and the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states collectively represent about 2 billion people and more than half of the seats in the United Nations. With this new Agreement, the parties will be better able to address emerging needs and global challenges, such as climate change, ocean governance, migration, health, peace and security.
The provisional application of the Agreement will begin on January 1, 2024. The Agreement will enter into force upon approval by the European Parliament and ratification by the contracting parties, namely all EU member states and at least two-thirds of the OACPS members.
The ACP-EU partnership is one of the oldest and most comprehensive cooperation frameworks between the EU and third countries. The previous legal framework for the partnership, the Cotonou Agreement, was signed in 2000. Post-Cotonou negotiations began in September 2018, under the leadership of Commissioner Neven Mimica, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The chief negotiators initialed the new Agreement in April 2021. The Council adopted a Decision on the signing and provisional application of the Agreement on July 20, 2023.