New OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement

15. 11. 2023

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs

On 15 November 2023, in Apia, Samoa, the EU and its member states signed with the 79 members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) a new Partnership Agreement, which will serve as the overarching legal framework for cooperation over the next 20 years. On behalf of Slovenia, the Agreement was signed by the Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador Iztok Jarc, in Brussels.

Skupinska fotografija ob podpisu Samojskega sporazuma — 1 / 2

The new Agreement will modernise the foundations and reinvigorate the relationship with the largest group of partner countries, providing a platform for dialogue and coordination to address today's challenges together. It deepens cooperation and enables joint solutions to global challenges related to sustainable development, climate change, migration, health, human rights, peace and security.

The day before, the 46th session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers, the last under the Cotonou Agreement of 2000, confirmed the name of the new Agreement. It will be provisionally applied from 1 January 2024, by which time it will have to be signed by those OACPS member states that have not yet completed the internal procedures necessary for its signature.