Signatories of the Samoa Agreement

On 20 July 2023, the Council of the EU adopted a decision authorising the signature of the new Agreement. The signing of the Agreement by the EU and its Member States with the OACPS members took place in Apia, the capital city of the South Pacific island state of Samoa, on 15 November 2023. As of 22 November 2023, however, 30 OACPS members, mostly African and Caribbean, had failed to sign. Some leaders explained they wanted to check whether the Agreement would be compatible with their legal order, in particular as regards same-sex relations and sexual health and rights. This move surprised several commentators, as the wording on these topics does not go beyond existing international agreements (see ‘The changes the agreement would bring’), and was agreed after years of negotiation; in addition, the Agreement includes the possibility for the signatories to make interpretative declarations or reservations. The Agreement is still open for signature; as of 13 May 2024, all EU Member States and 69 of the 79 OACPS member states had signed it (see Figure 1).