Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the prospects for future relations between the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states and the European Union.

The UK values the European Union’s long-standing relationship with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states, as currently governed by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), which is due to expire in February 2020. The European Union (EU) and its Member States are in the early stages of considering the content and structure of this relationship after 2020. It will need to be rooted in the Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development, including considering how to move beyond mainly aid implementation.

The EU has recently launched a public consultation to explore this, aiming to take stock of the CPA’s performance and understand how the EU-ACP relationship could be improved in the future. The UK welcomes the public consultation, which can be found is attached for your convenience.