Brussels – The Caribbean has welcomed the political deal reached between the chief negotiators for the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), for a new partnership accord to replace the Cotonou Agreement
“Once the Post-Cotonou Agreement has been initialled and subsequently signed in Samoa, let us ensure that this landmark agreement is effectively implemented in a manner that takes the OACPS-EU relationship to a higher level, that enables the Caribbean-EU partnership to realise its full potential and advances sustainable development in all our regions, and further sustains intra-OACPS cooperation,” Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Johnson-Smith.
Johnson-Smith, speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Group at the 10th Meeting of Chief Negotiators of the OACPS/EU post-Cotonou Agreement, on Thursday, where the political deal was announced, said that it had been a “long journey of over two years, during which we have engaged in the task of negotiating a successor agreement to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
“Speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Group, I am pleased to advise the Ministerial Central Negotiating Group that negotiations with the EU have concluded with the emergence of an agreed text of a Caribbean Regional Protocol.
“Since we last met, Caribbean Ambassadors and EU Senior Officials have continued their engagement to bring conclusion to the outstanding issues in relation to the Protocol,” Johnson-Smith said, adding that the last weeks have allowed for technical negotiations on two outstanding issues, namely, seabed mineral resources and migration and mobility.
“Prior to that, our Ambassadorial negotiators and their EU counterparts had reached agreement on three challenging issues, namely sexual and reproductive health and rights; threat of sea-level rising; and development of Caribbean international business and financial services.”
Johnson-Smith said that the completed text sees the incorporation of migration and mobility as a chapter under the title on Human Development and Social Cohesion.
“Our region has consistently declared its clear and distinct preference for the legal weight and political visibility of migration and mobility to be treated as a full title,” she said, adding “nevertheless, in keeping with the spirit in which we have approached these negotiations, we have now settled for the provisions to be captured a chapter, in recognition of both our commitment to conclude an agreement supportive of our sustainable development pursuits and appreciation that the substantive text accords with Caribbean expectations.
“Similarly, we note the emergence of compromise language on seabed mineral resources in spite of the previous Ministerial-level agreement.”
The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the ACP that was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city. It entered into force in 2003 and was subsequently revised in 2005 and 2010.
It is regarded as the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU and in 2010, ACP-EU cooperation has been adapted to new challenges such as climate change, food security, regional integration, state fragility and aid effectiveness.
The fundamental principles of the Cotonou Agreement include equality of partners, global participation, dialogue and regionalisation. The agreement is re-examined every five years.
The post-Cotonou negotiations started in September 2018 in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
The new partnership agreement is composed of a “common foundation”, which sets out the values and principles that bring the countries together and indicates the strategic priority areas that both sides intend to work on.
These are human rights, democracy and governance, peace and security, human and social development, environmental sustainability and climate change, inclusive sustainable economic growth and development, and migration and mobility.
The Jamaica Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said expressed special commendation for the negotiators of both sides “whose tireless work is etched in this legal agreement”.
“We salute the spirited nature of the collaboration that Caribbean Ambassadors enjoyed with our EU partners and laud their flexibility and understanding. The negotiations also benefitted from the close and fruitful engagement within the OACPS and in particular, the respective Chief Negotiators of Africa and the Pacific, and staff of the Secretariat of the OACPS.
“We are reminded of the vision with which we began this process that of working to secure a partnership that advances the relations between our groups of countries in a common pursuit of sustainable development of all our countries and their people. We believe that the result justifies the efforts that we have expended towards this outcome.”
Johnson-Smith said that while she was privileged to have worked with all of the “colleagues, on this very important undertaking”, we are joined together in this endeavour because our people demand our leadership to move our countries forward”.
She also praised the former Guyana foreign secretary, Carl Greenidge, “who, until recently, was the Chief Negotiator for the Caribbean”. (CMC)
