The EU and Vanuatu, a small island state in the Pacific, want to “further strengthen their partnership” at a bilateral and multilateral level, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said on Wednesday 4 May, the day after the seventh EU-Vanuatu political dialogue, which took place under the Cotonou Agreement linking the EU to 79 ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries.
The online meeting was co-chaired by the Vanuatu Minister of Finance, Johnny Koanapo Rasou, and the EEAS Deputy Director General for Asia and the Pacific, Paola Pampaloni.
On the climate front, both parties consider it “vital to implement the pledges and commitments by Parties as made at the COP26 in Glasgow and whilst working towards COP27, to call for a further increase of global ambition on all fronts” including mitigation, adaptation and climate finance.
On the pandemic, the EEAS underlines that both sides “called for continued multilateral efforts to address this global challenge, including through the provision of Covid-19 vaccines” by ensuring universal access.
The EU and Vanuatu are “eagerly awaiting the signature” of the Post-Cotonou Agreement, which is still blocked in the EU Council (see EUROPE 12859/26).
On trade, the EU reaffirmed its support for Vanuatu’s accession to the EU-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) “for which Vanuatu has expressed interest but has not yet notified the parties”.
Discussions also focused on the need to make progress on common priorities, in particular on taxation and financial governance, including the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as on visa issues related to Vanuatu’s investor citizenship programmes.
Vanuatu is still on the European list of tax havens (see EUROPE 12898/25). In addition, the visa suspension agreement between the EU and Vanuatu has recently been partially halted due to the risks posed by the archipelago’s ‘golden passport’ schemes (see EUROPE 12904/27). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)