On this day, 36 years ago, December 15, 1989 (November 18, 1989 in the lunar calendar), the fourth Lomé Convention was signed. On December 15, 1989, after long and arduous negotiations, the 12 European Community countries and 68 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries signed the fourth Lomé Agreement in the capital of Togo on December 15. Under this agreement, the European Community will provide grants and concessional loans totaling 12 billion European currency units (approximately 13.2 billion US dollars) to ACP signatory countries over the next five years. The agreement entered into force in February 1990. This is an important economic and trade agreement signed by countries from the north and south. Compared with the atmosphere when the first three agreements were signed, the enthusiasm of the ACP countries has greatly diminished. In his speech, President of the host country Eyadema strongly urged the European Community not to harm the interests of old friends in order to improve relations with some countries. He suggested convening a meeting of the European Community and ACP countries to discuss the formulation of an aid and compensation measure for ACP countries after the "Uruguay Round" of international trade negotiations and the establishment of the European Grand Market in 1992. "There can be no real peace in the world as long as a few people control most of the wealth on the planet and keep the majority in a state of poverty and dependence for a long time," he said. Third world countries are "overwhelmed by debt burdens, deteriorating terms of trade, unemployment and inflation. This is the real danger." The Lomé Convention is an economic and trade agreement between European Community countries and developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Many of these developing countries were colonies of Britain and France in the past. The agreement was first signed on February 28, 1975. Because it was signed in Lomé, the capital of Togo, it is called the "Lomé Agreement." The agreement is valid for five years and was renewed twice in October 1979 and December 1984 due to its expiration. The agreement stipulates that the European Community should grant preferential treatment to ACP countries in terms of promoting industrialization, financial and technical assistance, tariffs and stabilizing export earnings. The aid amounts for the first three agreements are 3.5 billion, 5.607 billion and 8.5 billion European currency units respectively. In addition to a portion of these funds directly financing development projects in ACP countries, a considerable portion of these funds is specifically used to stabilize the export earnings of primary products in ACP countries. It is true that these measures have played a certain role in helping ACP countries overcome economic difficulties and reduce the loss of their export earnings. However, due to insufficient total income stabilization subsidies, exporting countries 'requirements for applying for subsidies are often not met. Taking 1988 as an example, the ACP countries requested the European Community to subsidize 579 million ECU due to the collapse in the prices of tropical crop products such as coffee and cocoa, but only 375 million ECU was actually approved. For another example, Cote d'Ivoire lost 600 billion CFA francs in export revenue in 1988, but received only 40 billion CFA francs in subsidies. It is precisely because of the unreasonable international economic order that the purchasing power of the ACP countries fell by 64% between 1980 and 1987, and the gap between the north and the south further widened. Since the first three Lomé Agreements have not prevented the impoverishment of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and put them on a healthy and stable development path, these third world countries have high hopes for the fourth Lomé Agreement. They have asked the European Community to increase financial assistance and increase funds to stabilize export earnings. They hope to reform the existing export earnings stabilization system and relax restrictions on compensation. Although the amount of aid in this agreement is significantly higher than the previous three, the ACP countries are generally disappointed because the above-mentioned reasonable requests of the ACP countries have not been seriously discussed and treated, and some have even been flatly rejected. Cote d'Ivoire's "Fraternity Morning" pointed out in a signed article that "the cooperation between the European Community and the ACP countries is a combination of mutual interests, and both parties have benefited from it since the signing of the contract. The problem now is that the ACP countries have been harmed. "The Minister of Commerce of Senegal appealed: " It is clear that the European Community can propose a reform plan to allay people's concerns. It depends on whether it is truly sincere."