Morocco is a member of the United Nations and belongs to the African Union,Arab League,Arab Maghreb Union (UMA),Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),the Non-Aligned Movement and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). Morocco's relationships vary greatly between African,Arab,and Western states. Morocco has had strong ties with the West in order to gain economic and political benefits. France and Spain remain the primary trade partners,as well as the primary creditors and foreign investors in Morocco. From the total foreign investments in Morocco,the European Union invests approximately 73.5%,whereas the Arab world invests only 19.3%. As of 2009,many countries from the Persian Gulf and Maghreb regions are also becoming more involved in large-scale development projects in Morocco.
Togo,officially the Togolese Republic,is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west,Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It is one of the least developed countries and extends south to the Gulf of Guinea,where its capital,Lomé,is located. It is a small,tropical country,which covers 57,000 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 8 million,and it has a width of less than 115 km (71 mi) between Ghana and its eastern neighbor Benin.
Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 while there were 2,188,376 permanent residents in its metropolitan area as of the 2022 census. Located on the Gulf of Guinea at the southwest corner of the country,with its entire western border along the easternmost point of Ghana's Volta Region,Loméis the country's administrative and industrial center,which includes an oil refinery. It is also the country's chief port,from where it exports coffee,cocoa,copra,and oil palm kernels.
Youssouf Ouédraogo was a Burkinabépolitician. In 1992 he became the first Prime Minister of Burkina Faso since 1983,serving from 16 June 1992 to 22 March 1994. Ouédraogo,a member of the ruling Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP),later served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from January 1999 to June 2007.
The LoméConvention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 71 African,Caribbean,and Pacific (ACP) countries,first signed in February 1975 in Lomé,Togo.
The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African,Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou,Benin's largest city,by 78 ACP countries and the then fifteen Member States of the European Union. It entered into force in 2003 and was subsequently revised in 2005 and 2010.
The Organisation of African,Caribbean and Pacific States is a group of countries in Africa,the Caribbean,and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African,Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP),the organisation's main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states,as well as their greater integration into the world's economy. All of the member states,except Cuba,are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union.
Although there has been a large degree of integration between European Union member states,foreign relations is still a largely intergovernmental matter,with the 27 states controlling their own relations to a large degree. However,with the Union holding more weight as a single entity,there are at times attempts to speak with one voice,notably on trade and energy matters. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy personifies this role.
KadréDésiréOuédraogo is a Burkinabèstatesman. He was the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso from 1996 to 2000 and Chairman of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Joseph Kokou Koffigoh is a Togolese politician,human rights activist,and a poet who served as Prime Minister of Togo from 27 August 1991 to 23 April 1994. Elected as Prime Minister by the opposition-dominated National Conference in 1991,Koffigoh was given full executive powers and tasked with overseeing a transition to multiparty elections. Beginning in December 1991,however,President GnassingbéEyadéma increasingly reasserted his authority at Koffigoh's expense. Although Koffigoh remained in office,the opposition eventually abandoned him,feeling he had become too cooperative with Eyadéma.
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a scheme to create a free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and other countries. They are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating preferential trade agreements offered by the EU are incompatible with WTO rules. The EPAs date back to the signing of the Cotonou Agreement. The EPAs with the different regions are at different states of play. The EU has signed EPAs with the following countries:the Southern African Development Community (SADC),ECOWAS,six countries in Eastern and Southern Africa,Cameroon,four Pacific states,and the CARIFORUM states. Their defining characteristic is that they open up exports to the EU immediately,while exports to the partner regions is opened up only partially and over transitioning periods.
Development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the countries of the African,Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) started in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome,which first established a collective European development policy. The Treaty of Rome granted associated status to 31 overseas collectivities and territories (OCTs) and provided for the creation of a European Development Fund (EDF) intended to grant technical and financial assistance to the countries which were still under European rule at the time. More significantly,however,by means of the Treaty of Rome the six member states of the European Economic Community were expressing solidarity with the colonies and OCTs and committed themselves to contribute to their prosperity. The EDF has to date been funded outside the EU budget by the EU Member States on the basis of financial payments related to specific contribution shares,or “keys”,which are subject to negotiation. The EDF is currently the only EU policy instrument that is financed through a specific key that is different from the EU budget key,and which reflects the comparative interests of individual Member States.
The ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly was created to bring together the elected representatives of the European Union and the elected representatives of the African,Caribbean and Pacific states that have signed the Cotonou Agreement.
Zarifou Ayéva is a Togolese politician and the President of the Party for Democracy and Renewal (PDR). He served in the government of Togo as a minister during the 1970s and became an opposition leader in the early 1990s. He was a minor candidate in the 1998 presidential election and later served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007.
Kokou Biossey Tozoun is a Togolese politician who was Minister of Justice from 2007 to March 2011.
Yao Roland Kpotsra is a Togolese diplomat and politician. He was Togo's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1996 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2009;he was also Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2002 to 2003.
A coup d'état occurred in March 2003 in the Central African Republic when the forces of General François Bozizémarched on Bangui,the country's capital,while President Ange-Félix Patasséwas attending a regional Community of Sahel–Saharan States leaders' summit in Niger.
Kamina Johnson Smith is a Jamaican attorney-at-law and Senator. Johnson Smith is Jamaica’s first female Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Since 2016,Johnson Smith has served concurrently as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Leader of Government Business in the Senate.
