By Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States.
Cotonou, the capital of the Republic of Benin, hosted the historic event on 23 June 2000 at which the 20-year Agreement was signed between 79 developing countries of Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions and the European Union (EU).
This unique international treaty in the geo-political space of four continents, referred to as the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), comprises more than fifty percent of the 193 countries of the UN with 48 from sub-Sahara Africa, 16 from the Caribbean, 15 island-states of the Pacific and 28 from the EU.
The ACP-EU partnership serves 1 billion citizens, poor and rich, in both advanced industrialised and predominantly small, agro-based economies, which also possess extensive natural resources. Through the Cotonou Agreement, ACP-EU trade and investments have been mainly in extractive mining sectors, exporting primary agricultural commodities, and tourism. In addition to trade, the CPA allows for grants and loans through “aid” programmes under the European Development Fund (EDF), financed from contributions of EU member states. Political dialogue between parties to the Agreement, individually or as a Group, enables exchanges on human rights and rule of law, tied to incentives or sanctions on accessing EDF resources.
Achievements and Challenges
Improved socio-economic status of several ACP countries is evident from macro-economic data and UNDP’s Human Development Index. For instance, “in … 2000 a total of 44 ACP states were Low Income Countries (LICs), 30 were Middle Income Countries (MICs) and 1 was a High Income country (HIC). By 2015 they were 26 LICs, 43 MICs and 7 HICs,” but only empirical data can confirm to what extent such economic growth is attributable to ACP-EU cooperation.[1] Despite growth in ACP countries and ongoing attraction of investment from both developed and emerging economies, poverty eradication and substantial integration into the global economy – twin objectives of the CPA- remain elusive.
This is unsurprising as Illicit Financial Flows from the African continent are estimated at €60 billion annually, far more than the €45 billion received in aid over the last five years. More disturbing is widespread violence, crime, drugs and corruption, largely engendered over conflicts to control and reap the spoils from exploiting natural resources, at the expense of peace, security and jobs for women and youth.
In today’s world of acute and growing inequality between and within countries, the ACP Group is engaged in a process of strategic reflection to re-invent and restructure. This will inform a new, qualitatively enhanced partnership with the EU beyond 2020. Principles of subsidiarity and complementarity will enable deeper economic, social, cultural and political Intra-ACP relations as well as more structured ties to Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Union. A reconfigured ACP Group will also deepen partnerships across the Global South through South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
Let me briefly share key parameters of the ACP’s strategy for consolidation and fundamental change.
The ACP Group as a single entity:
The ACP Group as a unique tri-continental, inter-governmental organisation has preserved a common identity as a single geo-political entity, over the last four decades since its establishment in 1975. As this unified entity, the ACP Group will negotiate a successor to the Cotonou Agreement with the EU in 2020, taking account of regional specificities.
A legally binding contractual agreement.
The successor agreement should maintain a legally binding character. This unique and fundamental principle of ACP-EU relations is an added value of global significance attributing rights, responsibilities and obligations that mitigate asymmetrical relations between geopolitical groupings, and enable inclusivity and mutual accountability.
Agenda 2030 and the SDGs’ Framework
ACP and EU negotiated and adopted a joint position on the post-2015 Development Agenda to address mutual interests on global challenges. Now we can identify specific SDGs to join forces in addressing issues of global governance. This was remarkably demonstrated in the ACP-EU joint action for the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. ACP intends to examine scope for common positions with the EU on SDGs on oceans and marine resources; access to justice for all; and the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, amongst others.
Trade, Investment and Services.
The ACP Committee of Ambassadors advocates a sharp focus on trade and investment, infrastructure, energy and services as mutually reinforcing themes under which to implement the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. We envisage intra-ACP activities under the EDF (2014-2020), with co-financing from additional resources that will address policy analysis and advocacy, capacity building, information sharing and exchange of experiences for structural transformation of ACP economies.
There is growing recognition of the ACP Group’s added-value and substantial expertise in the design, management and assessment of development cooperation, mainly derived from its experience this unique North-South model of ACP-EU relations. While addressing weaknesses, the ACP Group as a hub of South-South and Triangular cooperation will aim to assist in implementing the SDGs of Agenda 2030.
Reinforcing unity and solidarity, while respecting diversity, the ACP Group looks forward to a qualitatively different post-Cotonou agreement to promote economic justice and poverty eradication in the Global South.
[1] See German Development Institute (DIE), “Towards a new partnership between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries after 2020” by Niels Keijzer, Mark Furness, Christine Hackenesch,, Svea Koch Bonn, December 2015, 16pp.
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Photography by Josephine Latu-Sanft/ACP Secretariat
