- ACP countries
The ACP States are the countries that are signatories of the
Lomé Convention . "ACP" stands for "African, Caribbean and Pacific countries"The first Lomé Convention was signed in
Lomé ,Togo , in1975 . It arose out of Europe's wish to guarantee itself regular supplies of raw materials, and to maintain its privileged position in its overseas markets. It also derived in part from a sense of responsibility arising out of its colonial past.The Lomé Convention is an ambitious cooperation programme originally between 15 countries of the European Union and 46 countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). It is based mainly on a system of tariff preferences which give those countries access to the European market and special funds which maintain price stability in agricultural products and mining products.
The Lomé Agreement was succeeded by the
Cotonou Agreement (signed inBenin in June 2000). One of the major differences with the Lomé convention is that the partnership is extended to new actors like civil society, private sector, trade unions, local authorities, etc. 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 ACP States. The fourth Lomé Convention was revised in
1995 inMauritius . The Lomé Convention gives special attention to island countries in this agreement::"For the landlocked and island ACP States, co-operation shall be aimed at devising and encouraging specific operations to deal with development problems caused by their geographical situations.
The countries are:
Africa
pecial designations
Annex VI of the agreement lists the following designations:
Least-developed ACP states
*Angola
*Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi
*Republic of Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoro Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo
*Djibouti
*Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia
*Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau
*Haïti
*Kiribati
*Lesotho, Liberia
*Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique
*Niger
*Rwanda
*Samoa, Sâo Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan
*Tanzania, Tuvalu, Togo
*Uganda
*Vanuatu
*ZambiaLandlocked ACP states
*Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi
*Central African Republic, Chad
*Ethiopia
*Lesotho
*Malawi, Mali
*Niger
*Rwanda
*Swaziland
*Uganda
*Zambia, ZimbabweIsland ACP states
*Antigua and Barbuda
*Bahamas, Barbados
*Cape Verde, Comoros, Cook Islands
*Dominica, Dominican Republic
*Fiji
*Grenada
*Haiti
*Jamaica
*Kiribati
*Madagascar, Mauritius
*Nauru, Niue
*Papua New Guinea
*Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles Solomon Islands
*Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu
*Vanuatuee also
*
ACP-EU Development Cooperation
*ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly External links
* [http://www.acp.int/ Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States]
* [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/acp/10_01/default_en.htm ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly]
* [http://www.euforic.org/detail_page.phtml?&page=acp_cooperation ACP-EU cooperation dossier of Euforic]
*Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)
* [http://practicalaction.org/?id=africanvoices African Voices: About EC Aid to Africa]
* [http://www.acp-eucourier.info The Courier - The Magazine of Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union cooperation and relations]
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