Cotonou Agreement and EPAs

The Cotonou Partnership Agreement was signed by the European Community (EC) and its Member States, and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) in Benin in 2000. The partnership is based on development cooperation, economic and trade cooperation, as well as on political issues.

Within trade cooperation, preferential and/or duty free market access for goods from developing ACP countries is negotiated in the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Some of these negotiations have been concluded. For those countries that have not finalised an EPA with the European Community, preferential treatment can either be obtained through the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP), or, for those countries that have concluded so-called "interim" or "stepping stone" agreements,  in some cases through an interim agreement called through the  EPA Market Access Regulation (MAR).
Read more on the European Commission website.