The EU will accept the request of the Federal Republic of Somalia to accede to the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement (“Cotonou Agreement”), was decided at the last foreign affairs Council of the European Union the Union, held on 27-28 May in Brussels.
This will be the position to be presented by the EU at the the upcoming ACP-EU Council of Ministers to be held in Brussels on 6/7 June.
Until now, Somalia was not a signatory of the Cotonou Agreement, as it did not have the necessary functioning institutions to sign and ratify it. In this conditions, access to resources for development finance cooperation under the 10th European Development Fund (period 2008-2013) has been granted to Somalia by the ACP-EU Council of Ministers1 under article 93.6 of the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, which provides with support that concerned especially institution-building and economic and social development activities.
The Cotonou Agreement was signed in Cotonou on 23 June and revised in Luxembourg on 25 June 2005. It is the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU.
Source: Council of the EU
This is great news for every Somali man and woman. This is another sign that Somalia is at last going to stand on its own feet and will become a respected member of the international community once again; we are heading to the right direction.
lets hope that the current Somalia Govt understands what it is signing upto. The EU will be looking into all aspects of the performance when it releases funding. this current president of Somalia likes lying around the world signing anything he can get his hands on.