The Council of the EU adopted, on Monday 17 February, the decision on the accession of the Solomon Islands, a small island developing state, to the EU-Pacific States Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The decision was adopted without debate in the margins of the meeting of European Ministers for European Affairs (General Affairs Council).
This EPA, negotiated under the Cotonou Agreement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), enshrines the progressive liberalisation of trade in products, according to an asymmetrical timetable. Until now, it included Papua New Guinea (which ratified in 2011), Fiji (which has been applying it since 2014) and Samoa, the last country in the ACP group to join and apply the EPA since December 2018.
The EU mainly imports commodities - palm oil, coffee, coconut, fish and caviar - from the Pacific region. It exports primarily electrical machinery and equipment to the Pacific region.
The ACP Group had agreed to the proposal for the accession of the Solomon Islands on 29 April 2019 and the European Parliament gave its approval on 17 December. The decision can therefore be published in the Official Journal of the EU. Tonga has also expressed interest in joining the EPA. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)