|
Europe and ACP countries have a longstanding historical relationship that continues strongly up to the present time. Up until 2000, this relationship was formally enshrined in the Lome Convention which ran for 25 years and was updated regularly. In 23 June 2000, the new arrangement was formally agreed upon in the Cotonou Agreement (link below) which introduced major changes and ambitious goals. The Cotonou Agreement is based on five interdependent pillars with the underlying objective of the fight against poverty: an enhanced political dimension, increased participation, a more strategic approach to cooperation focusing on poverty reduction, new economic and trade partnerships and improved financial cooperation.
Since then, new developments are ongoing which can potentially influence the Cotonou Agreement. In 2007, the EU and the African Union (AU) adopted the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and the accompanying Action Plan for 2008-2010 during the second EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon. The Action Plan shows 8 areas of partnerships:
- Peace and Security,
- Democratic Governance and Human Rights,
- Trade, Regional Integration and Infrastructure,
- Millennium Development Goals,
- Energy,
- Climate Change,
- Migration, Mobility and Employment
- Science, Information Society and Space.
Prior to the agreement, the European Commission formulated the EU Africa Strategy in recognition of the "strong trade links" where Europe is Africa's largest export market. The purpose of the strategy was to create an integrated, comprehensive and long-term framework for the EU-Africa partnership.
- Main text (en) (fr)
- Annex (en) (fr)
- Internal Agreements (en) (fr)
- Compendium (en)
- Second Revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (2010)
|
