THIRD COUNTRIES DEFINED

A third country is the term used by the European Commission to define any country of the world that is NOT one of the 28 EU (European Union) member States and EEA-EFTA (European Economic Area - European Free Trade Association) states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway).

1. All countries in North, Central and South America (North America: United States of America, Canada, Mexico; Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama; South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname,  Uruguay, Venezuela; Caribbean: Bahamas, Cuba, Dominica Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica,  US Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago).
2. All countries in Africa (Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo Democratic Republic, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).
3. All countries in Asia (Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea North, Korea South, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen).
4. All countries in Oceania and Polynesia: (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu)
5. Eastern Balkan Countries: (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia)
6. Belarus
7. Moldova
8. Russian Federation
9. Switzerland
10. Turkey
11. Ukraine

In accordance with Article 2 of the Erasmus Mundus 2009-2013 Programme Decision (No 1298/2008/EC), “Third Country means a country that is not a European Country". More concretely, the Erasmus Mundus programme distinguishes three different groups of countries:

a) The Members states of the European Union;
b) Other countries or potential candidates possibly on the same footing as Member States (this category includes Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Switzerland);
c) Third countries.

The countries under the second category will be considered as "European countries" only if an agreement (or a Memorandum of Understanding or an EEA Joint Committee Decision) establishing the participation of the country concerned in the EM programme is in force by the date of the selection decision. If this is not the case, the country concerned is considered as a third country. For the 2013 applications, the EEA-EFTA states (Iceland, Norway, Liechenstein) are considered European countries. All the other countries under b) above are considered Third Countries.