The ACP Group

What is the ACP Group?

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organisation created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. It is composed of African, Caribbean and Pacific States signatories to the Georgetown Agreement or the Partnership Agreement between the ACP and the European Union, officially called the “ACP-EC Partnership Agreement” or the “Cotonou Agreement”.

What is its purpose?

The ACP Group’s main goals are:

• sustainable development of its member states and their gradual integration into the global economy, which entails making poverty reduction a matter of priority and establishing a new, fairer, and more equitable world order;
• coordination of the activities of the ACP Group in the framework of the implementation of ACP-EC Partnership Agreements;
• consolidation of unity and solidarity among ACP States, as well as understanding among their peoples;
• establishment and consolidation of peace and stability in a free and democratic society.

Who are its members?

The ACP Group consists of 79 member states, all of them, save Cuba, signatories to the Cotonou Agreement which binds them to the European Union: 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific.

List of ACP Countries

Angola – Antigua and Barbuda – Belize – Cape Verde – Comoros – Bahamas – Barbados – Benin – Botswana – Burkina Faso – Burundi – Cameroon – Central African Republic – Chad – Congo (Brazzaville) – Congo (Kinshasa) – Cook Islands – Cte d’Ivoire – Cuba – Djibouti – Dominica – Dominican Republic – Eritrea – Ethiopia – Fiji – Gabon – Gambia – Ghana – Grenada – Republic of Guinea – Guinea-Bissau – Equatorial Guinea – Guyana – Haiti – Jamaica – Kenya – Kiribati – Lesotho – Liberia – Madagascar – Malawi – Mali – Marshall Islands – Mauritania – Mauritius – Micronesia – Mozambique – Namibia – Nauru – Niger – Nigeria – Niue – Palau – Papua New Guinea – Rwanda – St Kitts and Nevis – St Lucia – St Vincent and the Grenadines – Solomon Islands – Samoa – Sao Tome and Principe – Senegal – Seychelles – Sierra Leone – Somalia – South Africa – Sudan – Suriname – Swaziland – Tanzania – Timor Leste – Togo – Tonga – Trinidad and Tobago – Tuvalu – Uganda – Vanuatu – Zambia – Zimbabwe

Overview

The Group was originally created with the aim of coordinating cooperation between its members and the European Union. Its main objective was to negotiate and implement, together, cooperation agreements with the European Community.

Over the years, the Group extended its range of activities. Since then, cooperation among its members has gone beyond development cooperation with the European Union and covers a variety of fields spanning trade, economics, politics and culture in diverse international fora such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Beginning of ACP-EU cooperation

Cooperation between the European Union and the ACP Group began in 1975 with the First Lomé Convention, but the origin of this type of partnership dates back to the birth of Europe itself as an organised regional entity. In fact, as soon as the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957, it created an avenue for cooperation with the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) of the six signatory countries: Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Holland, i.e., essentially West and Central African countries with ties to France.

Regime of Association and the Yaoundé Conventions

A “Regime of Association” was devised in 1957 and endowed with resources from the first European Development Fund (EDF). In 1963 and 1969, 18 African States and their six European counterparts signed the First and Second Yaoundé Conventions, supported by resources from the 2nd and 3rd EDF, respectively. The agreements were geared mainly towards financial, technical and trade cooperation, primarily in the sectors of economic and social infrastructure.

The United Kingdom’s accession to the European Community in 1973 paved the way for the extension of the Europe-Africa cooperation to the Commonwealth countries, whether African, Caribbean, or Pacific. Later on, Spain’s accession would also have an impact on the membership of the ACP Group.

The Georgetown Agreement, the Group’s fundamental charter, which was signed in 1975 at the time the First Lomé Convention came into force, laid down the rules for cooperation between the countries of three continents, the main link being shared aid from the European Community.

The Lome Conventions

With the signature of the first Lome Convention in 1975, the number of signatory countries rose to 46 on the ACP side and 9 on the European side. Lome II was signed by 58 ACP States in 1980, and Lome III by 65 ACP countries and 10 European States in 1985.

These three Conventions, each spanning a five-year period, were accompanied by the 4th, 5th and 6th EDFs. These were implemented until 1990, the year in which Lome IV was signed, during the negotiation of which events occurred that would rock Central and Eastern Europe, as symbolised by the fall of the Berlin Wall.

ACP-EU cooperation has been able to keep the lid on non-politicisation. The most notable achievement of ACP-EU cooperation is that it introduced a new type of relationship between rich and poor countries based on solidarity and partnership, an independent involvement in political arrangements which can boost bilateral relations.

The Lome conventions granted non-reciprocal trade preferences to ACP countries. They included many more innovations than the Yaoundé Conventions. For example, agricultural sectoral programmes first appeared in the Lome Conventions. In addition, a compensatory mechanism was created under Stabex to offset losses in export earnings due to price fluctuations.

From Lome I to Lome IV

Improvements were added from one convention to the next without causing any major disruptions. Lome II saw the appearance of Sysmin, a mechanism similar to Stabex, but for mining products. The negotiation of that convention, signed in 1984, in the middle of a decade characterised by a quest for viability and efficiency, was marked by the calling into question of the effectiveness of aid. Emphasis was placed on food self-sufficiency for ACP countries.

The expression “political dialogue”, or policy dialogue, made its appearance in Lome III, but political dialogue would only really be introduced in Lome IV. Negotiated during the turmoil of 1989, that Convention enshrined respect for Human Rights as a fundamental clause.

In the meantime, the structural adjustment established by the Bretton Woods Institutions had been supported by Europe and was therefore taken on board in Lome IV. The major innovation of that Agreement still remains its duration. Signed for a 10-year period, it included two 5-year Financial Protocols and the 7th and 8th EDFs. Lome IV was signed by 68 ACP countries and 12 EU member states.

The negotiation of the second financial protocol led to more changes than had been anticipated. The European public displayed a certain lack of interest in cooperation at the end of the Cold War. The clause on respect for Human Rights and democratic principles was by then an essential aspect of cooperation, and measures for the suspension of aid made their appearance.

Review of Lome IV

Lome IV bis, which was signed in 1995, saw the number of signatory countries move to 70 for the ACP and 15 on the EU side and distinguished itself by the importance accorded to decentralised cooperation and the role of civil society.

Twenty years of Europe-ACP cooperation and the consolidation of solidarity among ACP countries had forged a cohesive bond which made the breaking up of the ACP bloc or any weakening of the ACP entity quite unthinkable.