Ministers from the 79 countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and ministers from the 27 EU Member States will meet on Tuesday 29 November in Brussels for a joint session of the OACPS/EU council to discuss the geopolitical challenges of the partnership between the two parties under the Cotonou Agreement.
Food security in the context of the war in Ukraine and energy cooperation as the EU seeks to diversify its sources of supply will feature prominently in the ministerial deliberations, which will be co-chaired on the European side by Jiří Kozák, the Czech First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Amery Browne, Minister for Foreign CARICOM Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, in his capacity as current OACPS chair.
Discussions will also focus on the post-Cotonou Agreement, which is still awaiting the signature of the European side due to Hungary’s reservations (see EUROPE 13055/8).
“Both parties hope that the post-Cotonou Agreement can be signed in June in Samoa under the Swedish Presidency”, an OACPS source told EUROPE on Friday 25 November.
The implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, currently extended until June, will also be discussed, including trade, economic and financial cooperation, the EU blacklist of non-cooperative countries and territories for tax purposes, which ACP countries consider “unfair”, the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
The partners’ cooperation in international fora will also be discussed, in particular in the context of the follow-up to the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh (see EUROPE 13055/9) and the preparations for the final segment of the COP15 on global biodiversity (Montreal in December). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)