Since its launch, the Atlantic Partnership has grown to forty-two members, representing more than 75 percent of the Atlantic coastline. Countries from Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean come together to address shared challenges, promote common solutions, and advance collective principles. In addition to the 32 original founding members, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago have joined the Atlantic Partnership over the past year.
Members have endorsed a Declaration on Atlantic Cooperation promising engagement on the basis of international law, existing national and international legal frameworks, mutual collaboration, and respect for differences in capacity and political perspective, and acknowledging the special role and primary interest of Atlantic states in the Atlantic.
At the ministerial, the Partnership’s members reaffirmed their commitment to work together to uphold the guiding principles for Atlantic cooperation as outlined in the Declaration. These include:
- A commitment to uphold international law, including the UN Charter, to promote an open Atlantic in which Atlantic states are free from interference, coercion, or aggressive action;
- A commitment to uphold the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, and political independence of states;
- Recognition of the special interest and primary role that Atlantic states have in the Atlantic.
The Atlantic Partnership has focused on three lines of effort: 1) Sustainable Blue Economy, 2) Science Capacity Building and Exchange, and 3) Ocean-based Food Security. Learn more about each one, here.
