Accessing Funding through Samoa Agreement

The European Union will pledge a minimum of $650 million euros for the region in support of Pacific priorities over the duration of 20 years under the Samoa Agreement, which leaders will sign on November 15th in Apia, Samoa. The Secretariat for the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) revealed that easy access to these funds is still a challenge. Meanwhile, the Samoa Agreement has specific Pacific-EU protocols to enhance relations between the two regional bodies.

 Secretary General of the OACPS, Georges Rebelo Chikoti, says that one of the major differences between the Cotonou and Samoa Agreements is the nature of funding. The Samoa Agreement will be funded from the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), a global European fund.

Chikoti says that “we still need to sit with Europeans and talk on how we are going to be able to fund most the programmes and projects of our countries.”

Discussion this year targeted key matters in the OACPS-EU Partnership Agreement & PACP Regional Protocol. Leaders are laser-focused on interim arrangements for the new structures under the Samoa Agreement, ensuring alignment with our Regional Architecture.

In response to the discussions, Cook Islands Prime Minister Hon. Mark Brown raised concerns about the ease of access to funding and whether mechanisms like the Samoa Agreement or borrowing can reduce barriers to use.

“Certainly, this was a concern raised by some of our leader’s access to that financing and also to make it easier. There are also challenges for countries like the Cook Islands with our graduated status, making access to some of those concessional financing no longer available to us.”

“So, a recognition that came out of yesterday's meeting of smaller island states and the difficulties associated with accessing financing, whether it's through the mechanisms like the Samoa Agreement or whether it's through borrowings,” continued Brown. “These are challenges that we have made, our concerns voiced and made known, and we wait and see how that will be addressed.”

To keep up to date with the Forum, be sure to check out the Pacific Cooperation Foundation and Pasifika TV websites