Luanda - The African Regional Group elected, this Saturday, in Luanda, its representatives who will form the new structures of the Constituent Assemblies of the Organization of African, Caribbean, the Pacific and European Union States (OACPS-EU).
Speaking to the press, the president of the National Monitoring Group for the Parliaments of European and ACP-EU Countries, deputy Ângela Bragança, said that the co-president and representatives of each of the African regions had been elected.
The Southern region, which includes Angola, presented two candidacies, namely Namibia and Zambia, with the Zambian representative being elected.
Ângela Bragança stated that this is not a competition as such, but a representation mechanism that should privilege Africa as a whole.
She informed that future applications at regional level will be made in alphabetical order.
Meetings of the Caribbean and Pacific groups were also held, which elected their representatives within the scope of the OACPS-EU Constituent Assemblies.
The 64th Meeting of ACP States is scheduled for Sunday (18th), which will prepare the Constitutive Assemblies, within the scope of the Samoa Agreement.
The Angolan parliamentarian highlighted the fact that the new Samoa Agreement brings new guidelines, new pillars, new bodies and a new Rules of Procedure.
"Constitutive Assemblies will be organized on the basis of this entire configuration that is foreseen in the Samoa Agreement", highlighted Ângela Bragança.
On Monday, the solemn session of the 1st Joint Parliamentary Assembly will take place, within the scope of the Samoa Agreement.
The new agreement paves the way for human development and progress in the fight against climate change, the achievement of peace and security and good governance over the next 20 years, the period during which this agreement should be in force.
The Constituent Assemblies of the OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the 1st OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly result from the adoption of the new OACPS -EU Partnership Agreement.
The Samoa Agreement, signed on November 15, 2023, replaces the Cotonou Agreement, adopted in 2000, between the EU and 79 OACPS countries, and the Lomé Convention of 1975.
The Joint Parliamentary Assembly is a permanent body with consultative functions.
The OACPS-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly is co-chaired, on the European side, by Carlos Zorrinho, a Portuguese MEP, and, on the OACPS side, by Anita Rita Sithole, a Mozambican deputy.
The OACPS brings together around 1.5 billion people from three continents and 79 countries, 48 from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific, which makes this organization a significant force.
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