Trade negotiations with ACP countries

On 27 September, trade Ministers from the EU and 76 countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) start negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). At the opening ceremony EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: "These negotiations open a new chapter in our economic relations with the ACP. The EU and the ACP will work together to integrate poor countries better into the global economy and to fight poverty through trade and economic co-operation. To make good progress in achieving this goal, we should sit down and work together in a spirit of partnership from day one of the negotiations." EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Poul Nielson said: "The regional process is crucial for a number of reasons: it helps the South develop stable and less vulnerable diversified economies; it enables developing countries to build local growth centers of business and public administration that would otherwise be out of reach for individual countries; it increases the size of markets and make foreign direct investment a real possibility for even small economies; and finally, regional co-operation has proven to be an effective conduit for political confidence-building and conflict prevention. So I really hope these negotiations will have energy, determination and vision."

The opening of these trade negotiations confirms the EU's commitment to the development of ACP countries and their insertion into the world economy. EPAs are not only complementary but also reinforce the on-going WTO negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda, where the EU strongly supported putting development at the heart of the multilateral trading system.

During the meeting both parties will exchange views on the structure and the timetable of the negotiations, which should be completed by 1 January 2008 at the latest.

Economic Partnership Agreements

The objectives and principles of the Economic Partnership Agreements have been settled in the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement. EPAs are designed to be complementary to ACP-EC development co-operation, seeking for mutually reinforcing results. This approach is in line with the Action Plan adopted by the Commission last week to boost developing countries capacity to benefit from trade. The EU will initiate talks with all 76 ACP countries to clarify the scope of EPAs and to set the scene for the negotiations, which will take place at a regional level. The core negotiations with individual ACP regions will begin next year. Negotiations will focus on fostering regional integration among the ACPs, building up institutional capacities, progressive and flexible liberalisation of trade in goods and services and the establishment of simple and transparent rules for doing business.

The European Commission's mandate allows considerable flexibility in both the negotiations and implementation of EPAs to take account of the different economic, social and environmental conditions in each ACP country.

EPAs will be a cornerstone in the EU's policy to deepen economic relations with developing countries. This policy is already visible in the EU's decision to open up its market to all imports from least developed countries through the "Everything but Arms" and its active role in pushing forward the WTO Doha Development Agenda. The European Commission will ensure that the EPA negotiations will be complementary and mutually reinforcing to the WTO process. The EU has also been in the forefront in promoting trade and sustainable development at the UN Conference on Financing Development in Monterrey and, more recently, in the Johannesburg summit on Sustainable Development.

The opening of trade negotiations with ACP countries comes just a week after the European Commission adopted a wide-ranging plan. Both examples show that the EU is ready to deliver on the commitments undertaken in Doha to put development at the centre stage of multilateral trade negotiations.

Background

The basic principles and the timeframe for EPA negotiations are set out in the Cotonou Agreement, which was concluded between the EU and 77 ACP countries in June 2000, and governs development, political and trade aspects of EU-ACP relations. The Cotonou Agreement states that EPAs will enter into force by 1st January 2008.

The 76 ACP countries eligible for EPAs are:

Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Cook Islands, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Federal States of Micronesia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

South Africa and Cuba are also ACP members. However, Cuba is not signatory to the Cotonou Agreement and South Africa has already concluded a Trade and Development Co-operation Agreement (TDCA) with the EU. East Timor has applied for ACP membership and will be an observer at the launch of the negotiations.


For more information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/bilateral/acp/acp.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/miti/devel/index_en.htm

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• Visit of Commissioner Nielson to the Pacific (26/9/2002)