The ACP Group
The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organisation created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. It is composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states, including 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific. Amongst them, 39 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 37 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and 15 Landlocked Countries. The ACP countries, save Cuba, are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement, also known as the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, which frames relations with the European Union in terms of trade, development cooperation and political dialogue.
Objectives
The ACP Group's main objectives are :
- sustainable development of its Member-States and their gradual integration into the global economy, which entails making poverty reduction a matter of priority and establishing a new, fairer, and more equitable world order;
- coordination of the activities of the ACP Group in the framework of the implementation of ACP-EC Partnership Agreements;
- consolidation of unity and solidarity among ACP States, as well as understanding among their peoples;
- establishment and consolidation of peace and stability in a free and democratic society.
Principal Organs
The ACP has its own unique structure of governing bodies and institutions which direct its priorities and course of work.
The Georgetown Agreement establishes the Summit of Heads of State and Government as the highest political authority of the ACP Group.
In practical terms, the ACP Council of Ministers is the main decision-making body of the group, meeting twice a year to outline measures to fulfil the group’s general objectives.
Supporting the Council is the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, which also takes decisions for the Group. The Committee monitors the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, overseeing six sub-committees as well as ad hoc working groups focusing on specific areas.
Finally, the ACP Parliamentary Assembly meets in a consultative capacity twice a year on political issues of concern to ACP countries. The assembly includes a Member of Parliament from each ACP state.
Read more about the history of the ACP Group (www.acp.int)
List of ACP Countries
Angola - Antigua and Barbuda - Belize - Cape Verde - Comoros - Bahamas - Barbados - Benin - Botswana - Burkina Faso - Burundi - Cameroon - Central African Republic - Chad - Congo (Brazzaville) - Congo (Kinshasa) - Cook Islands - Cte d'Ivoire - Cuba - Djibouti - Dominica - Dominican Republic - Eritrea - Ethiopia - Fiji - Gabon - Gambia - Ghana - Grenada - Republic of Guinea - Guinea-Bissau - Equatorial Guinea - Guyana - Haiti - Jamaica - Kenya - Kiribati - Lesotho - Liberia - Madagascar - Malawi - Mali - Marshall Islands - Mauritania - Mauritius - Micronesia - Mozambique - Namibia - Nauru - Niger - Nigeria - Niue - Palau - Papua New Guinea - Rwanda - St. Kitts and Nevis - St. Lucia - St. Vincent and the Grenadines - Solomon Islands - Samoa - Sao Tome and Principe - Senegal - Seychelles - Sierra Leone - Somalia - South Africa - Sudan - Suriname - Swaziland - Tanzania - Timor Leste - Togo - Tonga - Trinidad and Tobago - Tuvalu - Uganda - Vanuatu - Zambia - Zimbabwe
