The government of Maldives has signed the Samoa Agreement.

In a publication on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that the government of Maldives has signed the “Partnership Agreement between the European Union (EU) and its Member States, of the one part, and the Members of the Organization of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), of the other part” also known as the “Samoa Agreement”.

The signing ceremony was held at the OACPS headquarters in Brussels on Monday.

Ambassador of Maldives to the Kingdom of Belgium Geela Ali signed the agreement on behalf of the island nation.

At the time of signature, Maldives also submitted declarations and reservations to specific articles of the agreement.

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu decided to sign the agreement just last week, following a meeting held with his Cabinet of Ministers, where extensive discussions were held on a paper submitted by the foreign ministry.

The overarching framework for EU relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, the Samoa Agreement revolves around six key priority areas to tackle main challenges that surface over the course of the next two decades.

These priorities include human rights, democracy, and governance, peace and security, human and social development, inclusive, sustainable economic growth and development, environmental sustainability and climate change as well as migration and mobility.

Maldives will be able to access the opportunities provided by the European Union (EU) across different sectors more easily, by signing the agreement and becoming a full member of the OACPS.

Further, these opportunities will lead to better prices for Maldivian fisheries products when exported internationally.

The agreement marks the first partnership agreement that the Maldives has signed with EU and will enable further enhancement of cooperation in a multitude of areas including, economic development, trade, environment and climate change.

Further it will allow OACPS member states to realize several benefits from the EU.

The Samoa Agreement brings together 79 member states of the OACPS and 27 member states of EU to represent close to two billion people with diverse socio-economic backgrounds representing more than half of the UN member states.

OACPS was established in 1975 under the “Georgetown Agreement”.

Maldives has been working with OACPS and EU member states to address global challenges since becoming a full OACPS member state, on 9 December 2022.