Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States


The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, the organisation's main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world's economy. All of the member states, except Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union.
The Cotonou Agreement is the successor to the Lomé Conventions. One of the major differences from the Lomé Convention is that the partnership is extended to new actors such as civil society, private sector, trade unions and local authorities. These will be involved in consultations and planning of national development strategies, provided with access to financial resources and involved in the implementation of programmes.
Many small island developing states are OACPS states; the fourth Lomé Convention was revised in 1995 in Mauritius and gives special attention to island countries in this agreement.

States

Africa

The African OACPS countries negotiate in five Economic Partnership Agreements groups with the EU.
"West Africa group"
  • Cabo Verde
  • Côte d'Ivoire


"CEMAC plus São Tomé and Príncipe, DR Congo group"
EAC group
    • "Eastern and Southern Africa group"


    SADC group

    Caribbean

    All countries of the Caribbean Community plus Dominican Republic group negotiate in the CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union.

    Pacific

    All developing member states of the Pacific Islands Forum group and Timor Leste negotiate in the Pacific EPA with the EU.

    North Atlantic

    In this region are located the EU overseas countries and territories of Greenland and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, but there are no OACPS states.

    South Atlantic

    In this region are located the EU OCTs of Saint Helena and Falkland Islands, but there are no OACPS states. Nevertheless, Saint Helena is developing links with the SADC EPA group.

    Uninhabited territories

    The uninhabited EU OCTs do not participate in regional integration and do not receive development funding from the EU.
    The Cotonou agreement recognises the specific challenges faced by less developed countries, land-locked countries, and islands in their economic development. Therefore, those countries are granted a more favourable treatment than other OACPS member countries. The text of the Cotonou agreement has been updated in 2005 and 2010, but the lists have not, despite the fact that the actual list of LDCs as defined by the United Nations has changed: Cape Verde has graduated from LDC status in December 2007, while Senegal has acquired the status in 2001 and Timor-Leste in 2003. The following lists should thus not be considered as the actual lists of OACPS LDCs and islands.
    Annex VI of the Cotonou agreement lists the following designations:

    Least-developed OACPS states

    The Least developed OCTs are the following: Anguilla, Mayotte, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

    Landlocked OACPS states