One of the countries that did not come to Apia for the signing of the European Union’s Samoa Agreement, Tanzania has now become a party to the agreement.

The partnership agreement is with the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union (EU) with its member states.

The new partnership agreement will serve as the new legal framework for EU relations with 79 countries and it replaces the Cotonou Agreement. This includes 48 African, 16 Caribbean and 15 Pacific countries. The official signing ceremony was held in Apia on 15 November 2023.

This was a historic moment for the nation. It was attended by most members of the OACPS except those who were skeptical that by signing the Agreement, their schools would be subjected to sex education curriculum developed in the EU. This theory by some has been proven wrong since then.

The agreement was signed recently by Tanzanian Ambassador to Belgium, Jestas Nyamanga, at the OACPS secretariat’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The key areas of cooperation in this agreement include sustainable economic growth and development, trade and investment; environmental protection and coping with the effects of climate change.

Other areas of cooperation that are based on the agreement include responding to new threats to peace and security, immigration and mobility, democracy as well as human rights.

Coupled with that, the agreement supersedes the partnership agreement of Cotonou signed in 2000, which will come to an end on December 31, this year.

The Cotonou agreement is the partnership between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States on the one part and the European Union and its Member States on the other part that aims to promote and expedite the economic, cultural, and social development of the ACP States, to contribute to peace and security and to promote a stable and democratic political environment.

From January next year, the new agreement named Samoa, will serve as the basis of policy and law to lead the cooperation and partnership with the EU for the next period.

Through the partnership agreements, the countries have been benefiting significantly from its cooperation with the EU, in areas various, including trade, investment and tourism.