Brussels, 25/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - What kind of agreement or treaty should follow the Cotonou Agreement concluded in 2000 for a 20-year period between the EU and ACP countries (Africa/Caribbean/Pacific)? Brainstorming on this subject was launched by the Group of Eminent Personalities (GEP) set up last March by the ACP group, under the guidance of the former president of Nigeria, Olusejun Obasanjo, which, according to a GEP group announcement on Wednesday 25 September, will be complemented by the launch of regional consultations on ACP group perspectives.
These consultations with stakeholders in each of the sub-regions of the ACP group will begin in the Pacific with a meeting planned in Apia (Samoa) on 17-18 December next. They will continue on 1-2 November in Granada and in each of the four African regions (West Africa, East Africa, South Africa and Central Africa) in 2014.
Obasanjo stated that, “we need to begin looking at what kind of agreement should follow the Cotonou Agreement, in the context of the many changes that have occurred since the setting up of the partnership between the ACP and EU. Do common values exist that should now form the basis for establishing new relations?” He also highlighted the need to, “examine ways of strengthening the partnership and the questions that would require a different approach”. The GEP therefore intends to listen to the different points of view from a broad range of ACP and EU stakeholders, particularly senior civil servants, parliamentarians, society and the private sector, explained Obasanjo.
Leonel Fernandes, the vice president of the GEP and former president of the Dominican Republic, said that it was crucial that the ACP economies became more competitive. He pointed out that, “in order to achieve this aim, we have to improve productivity, human resources skills, the quality of education and access to technology, the many different questions that were not on the agenda ten or twenty years ago”. He also said that, “it is crucial that the debate is reoriented on development issues and developing partnerships that provide mutual benefits” (our translation throughout).
The most recent ACP heads of state summit took place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea last December and focused on, “The future of the ACP group in a changing world: challenges and opportunities”. It provided political and strategic orientation to this reflection and recommended the elaboration of perspectives for repositioning the group in a new international context that is particularly characterised by the increasing power of emerging countries and that guarantee greater cohesion of the group, of which half its members come from LDCs (less developed countries). Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) were painstakingly negotiated by the EU with ACP countries and regions and the bilateral strategies put in place by the EU with each of the ACP regions has made group cohesion more necessary than ever. (AN/trans.fl)