A new trade and aid agreement has been reached between the European Union and a group of 71 developing countries.

The treaty, which replaces the Lome Convention, will be known as the Suva Convention, and is expected to run for 20 years.

For a quarter of a century the Lome Convention has been the cornerstone of trade and aid between Europe and the developing world.

This round of negotiations has been one of the most important as the two sides have been forced to accommodate the sometimes demanding rules of the World Trade Organisation, a body which did not exist the last time Lome was brought up to date.

The European Union has tried to avoid the complaint that its former agreements with the 71 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations were so favourable they amounted to unfair trading practices.

Regional free trade

The new deal transforms the previous convention into a system of trade and co-operation pacts with individual nations.

Some of the poorer ACP states will continue to enjoy virtually free access to European markets and there will be regional free trade agreements between the EU and better-off developing countries.

The making of this deal did hit one late stumbling block, a dispute about the return of illegal immigrants which took hours of extra discussion to resolve.

For the new agreement, there is also a new title. It carried the name of the Togolese capital, Lome, for 25 years but the treaty will now be named after Suva, the capital of Fiji.

Togo lost the honour after criticism of its human rights record.