Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States

Political · OACPS

The Council of Ministers meeting at Nairobi on 7 December 2019 revised the agreement this group is founded on. What it kept is the clause that admits a state: membership is open to independent states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions, or to any independent state with comparable economic structures or needs, irrespective of geographical location. Geography is the usual route rather than the required one.

Questions about OACPS

Which countries are in the OACPS?

The members are drawn from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the roster on this page lists every one of them with the date on each figure. The organisation groups them internally on six geographical regions: Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Its Caribbean region takes in Belize on the Central American isthmus and Guyana and Suriname on the South American mainland.

What does a country need in order to join the OACPS?

Recognition by a majority of the members, a commitment to be bound by the Georgetown Agreement, and the ability and willingness to assume the rights and obligations it carries. The Council of Ministers recommends and the Summit decides by consensus, and the applicant becomes a member on depositing an instrument of accession. The agreement is open to independent states of the three regions and, in a second limb, to independent states with comparable economic structures or needs wherever they lie.

Why is Cuba an OACPS member but not a party to the Cotonou Agreement?

Because membership of the organisation and party status to the partnership with the European Union are separate things. Cuba acceded to the Georgetown Agreement and never signed the Cotonou Agreement of 23 June 2000, and the European Parliament's briefings on the partnership note the discrepancy when they count the parties. The same separation carries over to the Samoa Agreement that replaced Cotonou.

When did the ACP Group become the OACPS?

On 5 April 2020. The revised Georgetown Agreement was adopted by Decision No. 1/CX/19 of the 110th session of the Council of Ministers at Nairobi on 7 December 2019 and endorsed by the Summit there on 9 and 10 December 2019. It enters into force thirty days after one third of the members have signed or ratified it, a threshold reached in the second week of March 2020 when Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines ratified.

What is the Samoa Agreement?

The partnership agreement between the European Union with its member states and the members of the OACPS, signed at Apia on 15 November 2023 and applied provisionally since 1 January 2024. It is built as a general part binding on every party plus three regional protocols, for the African, the Caribbean and the Pacific members, so each member is bound by the common text and by one protocol. Full entry into force needs the consent of the European Union, its member states and two thirds of the OACPS membership.

Can a member leave the OACPS?

Yes. The agreement provides for withdrawal by written notification to the Summit through the Secretary General, and it ceases to apply to that state one year from the date of the notice unless the notice is revoked. A state leaving this way undertakes to honour the financial obligations it assumed while a member.

Sources

The Georgetown Agreement, as revised by Decision No. 1/CX/19 · OACPS. The admission article and its two limbs, the six geographical regions, the organs, the Brussels headquarters, the official languages, entry into force at one third, and withdrawal at one year.
Georgetown Agreement on the organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, No. 20345 · United Nations Treaty Series, volume 1247. The registered text of the agreement done at Georgetown on 6 June 1975.
Georgetown Agreement on the organisation of the ACP Group of States · University of Oslo, Faculty of Law treaty collection. Signature on 6 June 1975, entry into force on 12 February 1976, and the working languages of the founding text.
About the OACPS · OACPS. The Lome Convention of 28 February 1975 with forty-six African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the Georgetown Agreement of 6 June 1975, and the Secretariat address in Brussels.
Constitutive Acts of the OACPS · OACPS. The founding text, its amended versions, the revised agreement adopted at Nairobi in December 2019, and the provisional application of the Samoa Agreement from 1 January 2024.
Mission and Vision · OACPS. The objectives of the organisation and the entry into force of the revised Georgetown Agreement on 5 April 2020.
Two OECS Member States Move to Ratify the Revised Georgetown Agreement · Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. The ratifications by Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the second week of March 2020 that carried the one third threshold.
Cotonou Agreement · EUR-Lex summary. Signature on 23 June 2000, entry into force on 1 April 2003, the revisions of 25 June 2005 and 22 June 2010, and the expiry date of 29 February 2020 with its extensions.
The Samoa Agreement, partnership agreement between the EU and its Member States and the Members of the OACPS · EUR-Lex summary. The general part and the three regional protocols, provisional application from 1 January 2024, and the two thirds threshold for entry into force.
International Agreements in Progress: the Samoa Agreement with African, Caribbean and Pacific states · European Parliamentary Research Service. The signature at Apia on 15 November 2023 and the ratification threshold of two thirds of the OACPS membership.
The Cotonou Agreement and its future: a new era for EU-ACP relations · European Parliamentary Research Service. The note that the OACPS membership includes Cuba, which is not a party to the Cotonou Agreement and does not join its successor.
OACPS-EU partnership · European Commission, Directorate-General for International Partnerships. The signature of the Samoa Agreement in Samoa on 15 November 2023 and its provisional application from January 2024.