Cotonou agreement


Cotonou agreement

the latest in a long series of European Union legal instruments to assist the African, Caribbean and Pacific States as well as others outside the Union. The basic framework was established in the now expired LOMÉ CONVENTION. This agreement retains the main instruments of the previous system such as institutions and financial instruments. The purpose is to work towards trade between the two parties being liberalized, ending the system of non-reciprocal trade preferences. The Cotonou Agreement identifies the least-developed ACP states which, in certain cases, benefit from special treatment.