The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS, French: ''Organisation des États d'Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique'') is a group of

countries A country is a distinct part of the Earth, world, such as a state (polity), state, nation, or other polity, political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, List of states with limited r ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), the organisation's main objectives are sustainable development and

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics classi ...

within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world's economy. All of the member states, except

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The Cotonou Agreement (signed in

Cotonou Cotonou (; ) is the largest city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The city lies ...

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

, in June 2000) is the successor to the

Lomé Convention The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community, European Economic Community (EEC) and 71 ACP countries, African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo. His ...

s. 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 Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and gives special attention to island countries in this agreement. Combined the EU and the members of the OACPS represent over 1.5 billion people and more than half of the seats at the United Nations.

Member states

Africa

The African OACPS countries negotiate in five

Economic Partnership Agreements Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a scheme to create a free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and other countries. They are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating Preferential trading are ...

groups (West Africa, Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, Southern Africa Development Community, East African Community, Eastern and Southern Africa) with the EU.

Caribbean

All countries of the

Caribbean Community The Caribbean Community (abbreviated as CARICOM or CC) is an intergovernmental organisation that is a Political association, political and economic union of 15 member states (14 nation-states and one dependency) and five associated members thro ...

plus

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

group negotiate in the CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the

(EU). The Caribbean-bloc is sometimes co-represented at EU-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean).

Pacific

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

North Atlantic EU OCTs

In this region are located the EU overseas countries and territories (OCTs) of

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and

Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...

, but there are no OACPS states.OCT regional groups

South Atlantic dependent territories

In this region are located the U.K. overseas territories of

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory located in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and consisting of the island of Saint Helena, Ascension Island, and the archipelago of Tri ...

and

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

, but there are no OACPS states. Nevertheless, Saint Helena is developing links with the SADC EPA group.

Uninhabited territories

The uninhabited EU OCT does not participate in regional integration and does not receive development funding from the EU. * French Southern and Antarctic Territories, located in the Indian Ocean The uninhabited U.K. overseas territories are not OACPS states and do not receive development funding from the EU. *

British Indian Ocean Territory The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chago ...

, located in the Indian Ocean * South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located in the South Atlantic

Special designations

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 Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

has graduated from LDC status in December 2007, while

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

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 (a few islands are also not listed). Annex VI of the Cotonou agreement lists the following designations:

Least-developed OACPS states

Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Tuvalu, Togo, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia. The Least developed OCTs are the following: Anguilla, Mayotte, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Saint Pierre and Miquelon.Overseas Association Decision, Annex I B
/ref>

Landlocked OACPS states

Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Island OACPS states

Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Kiribati, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Organs

* ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly * ACP–EU development cooperation * European Centre for Development Policy Management * Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)

Trade and legal framework

* EU-ACP

(EPA) with the ACP countries

References

External links

Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of StatesACP-EU cooperation dossier of EuforicAfrican Voices: About EC Aid to AfricaThe Courier - The Magazine of Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and European Union cooperation and relations CTA's magazine on agriculture in ACP countries
''Spore''
Website on EU cooperation for ACP countries

Official website
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2021 Annual reportArchive1Archive2Archive3
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2020 Annual reportArchive1Archive2

Archive3
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2022-2025 Strategic Plan becoming a Centre of ExcellenceArchive1Archive2Archive3
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2030 Strategic Plan of Action for Fisheries and AquacultureArchive1Archive2Archive3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States . International organizations based in Africa International organizations based in Oceania International organizations based in the Caribbean International economic organizations International trade organizations Trade blocs Economy of Africa Economy of Oceania Economy of the Caribbean Foreign relations of the Caribbean Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty Organizations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Africa 1981 establishments in Oceania 1970s establishments in the Caribbean 1975 establishments in North America 1975 establishments in South America Politics of Africa Politics of Oceania Politics of the Caribbean United Nations General Assembly observers