Maldives will sign the Samoa Agreement within the boundaries of the Maldives constitution according to the parliament committee report.
The Maldives will participate in the Samoa Agreement with the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) without violating its constitution, according to a parliamentary committee report.
The Samoa Agreement includes provisions on homosexuality and religious freedom that conflict with Islamic views and the Maldives constitution. Due to these provisions, some countries have refused to sign the agreement.
Therefore, Maldives will sign the Samoa Agreement within the boundaries of the Maldives constitution. The government has included reservation in the agreement that the Maldives will provide human rights in the agreement without violating the Maldives constitution.
In a Facebook post, Minister of Islamic Affairs Dr. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed stated that it is a common practice for the Maldives to include reservations on matters that conflict with the constitution when signing international treaties.
The Maldives has signed many international treaties with such reservations.
According to the committee report, participating in the agreement will facilitate more opportunities for Maldivian fish products to be exported internationally. However, the timing of reduced fish export duties to the EU can only be predicted after negotiations.
"After signing the agreement, procedures and negotiations with the EU are expected to take a long time," the report said.
The agreement will only take effect after the OACPS regional groups and the EU accede to an Economic Partnership Agreement. The parliament committee report also indicated that the Maldives decided to seek benefits through OACPS because consultations with the EU have not yielded a solution.
“Small developing island nations in the Indian Ocean, such as Mauritius and Seychelles, have secured better prices for various fish and fish products exported to the EU under the OACPS,” the report said.
The signing and ratification of the agreement are expected to strengthen foreign and trade relations between the Maldives and countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific region.
The Samoa Agreement sets out the framework for EU relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
It focuses on six key priority areas to tackle the main challenges over the next twenty years. The six key areas include human rights, democracy, and governance, peace and security, human and social development, inclusive sustainable economic growth and development, environmental sustainability and climate change and migration and mobility.
To date, the Samoa Agreement has been signed by 27 EU countries and 69 out of the 79 OACPS countries. The agreement has been ratified by two EU countries and two OACPS countries.
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