New Departures in Multilateral Trade, Development and Cooperation: The Lome Convention and its Impact on the United States

On February 28, 1975, the European Economic Community (EEC) and 46 states of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, signed the ACP-EEC Lome Convention at Lome, the capital of Togo. The Convention, which marks the culmination of a series of arrangements commencing in 1957 between the EEC and African territories on trade and aid relationships, has been hailed as a very significant and an unique instrument. It will now be discussed in the context of several general trends in multilateral trade, development and cooperation and an assessment of its impact on the United States will be made.