More countries in the Caribbean have finally endorsed the Samoa Agreement which was officially launched and signed in Apia last month, with reports on how the agreement has divided countries within the region. 

The recently-penned Samoa Agreement, will govern trade and aid arrangements between Europe and its former colonies in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP) for the next 20 years.

At the official signing ceremony held at Tuana'imato last month, a total of 71 countries signed off on the agreement. 

However, last week, Grenada's Resident Ambassador in the Kingdom of Belgium, Raphael Joseph signed the agreement on behalf of the State of Grenada. 

The Heads of Mission of four other Member States: Burundi, Central African Republic, Niger and St Kitts and Nevis also signed the Agreement, at the Headquarters of the Organization of African Caribbean and Pacific States (O.A.C.P.S.).

However, it has been reported that the agreement has raised concerns in other Caribbean countries, especially the Roman Catholic Church, who have insinuated that it will be used by the European Union (EU) to impose values and ideologies that are contrary to Caribbean culture and traditions.

As reported by the Dominica News Online, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port of Spain, Jason Gordon, has criticised the agreement claiming that while it is “written as a trade agreement, anyone who signs the agreement will have abortion legislation in their countries. 

"They will have to impose abortion legislation, transgender, LBGTQ, comprehensive sex education, and a whole range of values because of the signing of that document.”

The Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, has a different opinion on the accord, saying it is very comprehensive and won’t require the changing of laws in his country, or any country for that matter.

He called on the citizens of his country to calm down.

“I just want everybody to calm down and not take some position out of Trinidad, out of the United States, or somewhere else in a general condemnation of an agreement,” Gonsalves stated. “Unless somebody can point to me these specific provisions, they’re making the claim that they were somehow subversive of what we know traditionally as Christian morality.”

Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, described the agreement as a good document overall, although it could be more refined.

“It is a framework document that is not necessarily imposing any particular ideals or views on us in the African and Caribbean Pacific region,” he stated at a press conference on Wednesday. He said many of the concerns being raised are not even in the document.

“And people are looking at those sections and articles and indicating that there may be an opportunity for some of the things that we have concerns with may find themselves being implemented in our countries,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, Jamaica, which had previously said it needed more time for consultation on the agreement, has now indicated it is ready to sign up but did not give a specific date.

“I can’t give you a date,” Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kamina Jonson Smith, told the Jamaica Observer. “I have a meeting with my PS (permanent secretary) today (Tuesday) to set the schedule for the consultations to take place as promised.”

She said the agreement does not require Jamaica to change any of its current laws.

“There is no need to fear,” she said. “The Jamaica Labour Party Government is a government that can be trusted to ensure that any agreement that we enter into with a third party state, third party organisation, will never infringe upon our laws. We are a listening government, we are a caring government and we do ensure that this important developmental agreement is undertaken within a spirit of understanding.”

Countries that have not signed the agreement have until the end of this year to do so or risk losing access to loans from the European Investment Bank, which relies on the agreement for its legal operating mandate outside the EU.