The future of African Caribbean and Pacific countries in the European Union will be one of the key issues discussed during the 8th ACP Heads of State meeting to be held in Port Moresby next week.
This is because the Cotonou Agreement signed in 2000 between ACP countries and European Union expires in 2020 and the discussion will be focused to provide directions for a way forward after this agreement expires.
Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato was in Senegal last month for the 103rd ACP Council of Ministers Meeting and said they also looked at this while there.
He said the expiry of this agreement will have a lot of financial implications on countries who benefit from European Union aid because EU provides millions of dollars to ACP countries every year under this agreement.
Thus finding a way forward will be one of the main topics of discussion next week.
EU is the second largest development partner in PNG.
The policy working committee in PNG has also prepared two key outcome documents that will be presented at the close of the meeting next week.
The documents have been named the Port Moresby Communiqué and the Waigani Declaration.
The Port Moresby Communiqué covers and sets direction on the future of ACP countries in European Union and the content has been the work of Papua New Guineans and will be PNG’s input to this meeting.
The Waigani Declaration deals with the ongoing work of ACP countries and what needs to be done going forward.
Meantime, this meeting is expected to increase PNG’s profile at the ACP EU nations.