The Native Iowan

The Solomon Islands delegation who attended the special summit of Leaders from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP).

Brussels – A special summit of Leaders from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)   nations will be convened in 2014 to give political guidance on the future of the group, at the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in 2020.

This is one of the long term perspectives recommended by the special Working Group, comprising Brussels based Ambassadors tasked to find a way forward for the ACP.

Fiji, as co-ordinator of the Pacific Group in Brussels is a member of the Working Group.

“Since this will be a highly political issue, the Working Group proposes that an ACP Summit of Heads of State be held in 2014 to allow a sufficient time to the ACP Group to prepare for the 2020 count-down, said the report obtained by PACNEWS.

For the next two years, a consultant will be engaged to conduct an in-depth study on the various options and scenarios for the transformation of the ACP Group while managing change and continuity.

The study will examine the relevance of the ACP in the new and evolving global environment and review its privileged relations and co-operation with the EU, taking account of the Second Revised Cotonou Partnership Agreement, the Economic Partnership Agreement, the Lisbon Treaty as well as relations with other development partners.

Another possible option for the post 2020 ACP is to open up its membership to include non ACP and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

“A final decision will be made on the basis of the findings of the study, on-line consultations with all stakeholders and “hearings” from a selected group of persons, recommended the Working Group.

After 35years of existence, it’s time to determine whether the 79 member group ‘remain under the yoke ‘of the European Union, said a representative of South Africa during the debate on the report of the Working Group.

South Africa called for political and challenged delegates to ‘think outside the European Union.’

“Collectively, we are a powerful group and the Working Group should be exploring our collective strengths and use it to pursue a future perspective for ACP.

When the Cotonou Partnership Agreement was signed in 2000 between ACP States and the European Union, the Agreement was widely viewed as offering an ambitious and innovative agenda that would enhance political dialogue, encourage the participation of non-state actors and result in a more effective development cooperation framework.

The Agreement went beyond the narrow trade and aid focus that was the hallmark of earlier ACP-EU treaties, right from the first post-independence framework agreed in Yaoundé in 1963 through the four successive Lomé conventions implemented between 1975 and 2000.

Increasingly however, it appears that a constellation of global changes and internal dynamics has thrown the future of the partnership wide open.  A key driver in this has been the adoption of the new Lisbon Treaty in 2009, under which the EU has embarked on fundamental institutional reorganisation to strengthen its position as a global player.
This includes a review of all existing EU partnership agreements on a geopolitical basis and along regional lines that has undermined the unity of the ACP Group and heightened doubts on the relevance of the ACP-EU framework.  Further complicating these internal dynamics is the growing political and economic muscle of the emerging powers, which has opened up new avenues of cooperation for developing countries