12 April 2014: The Pacific countries from the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) have requested an Economic Participation Agreement (EPA) negotiation with the EU by the end of April 2014, following a discussion of outstanding issues among the Pacific ACP countries. Officials emphasized that the EPA provisions should promote the sustainable development of the region’s fisheries, while ensuring that Pacific peoples benefit from fisheries trade.

Senior fisheries and trade officials from the Pacific ACP states met in Suva, Fiji, in April 2014, to review the EPA and prepare recommendations for Ministers’ consideration. The PACP Trade and Fisheries Ministers then met from 10-11 April in Suva, where they agreed on a PACP regional approach to conclude EPA negotiations.

“It is our wish and intention that the negotiation meeting at the official level takes place as soon as possible,” said Andie Fong Toy, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). At an informal meeting in the Solomon Islands on 12 December 2013, the EU and Pacific ACP Ministers committed to hold a Ministerial level meeting in May 2014, with the aim of concluding EPA negotiations by December 2014.

In 2000, the EU and the ACP group adopted the Cotonou Agreement, a framework treaty on promoting trade between the two groups as well as poverty reduction and sustainable growth. Under the Agreement, parties agreed to negotiate separate free trade agreements for the Caribbean, the Pacific and four blocks of African countries.

The PACP countries are: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. [PIFS Press Release on Progress] [PIFS Press Release on Trade Officials Meeting] [EC Website on Economic Partnerships] [ACP Website]