Thirty-five nations initial new trade agreements
As The Courier went to press, 35 out of 78* African, Caribbean and Pacific states had initialled European Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU. All have previously enjoyed preferential entry into the EU market under the Cotonou Agreement.
The EPAs are reciprocal free trade agreements, but whereas the EU has agreed to open market to all ACP goods and produce, apart from sugar and rice subject to short transitional periods from 1 January 2008, ACP nations will only be required to open their markets gradually according to negotiated phased timetables of 5 to 25 years for the most sensitive goods, and covering 80% or above of all trade. Under World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade rules, signatories to any free trade agreement can omit certain goods provided that the whole amounts to, ‘substantially all trade.’ Many ACPs have hence chosen to opt their agricultural produce out of the EPAs.
So far, only the Caribbean has initialled an EPA as a regional entity. This agreement, drawn up with all CARICOM states, covers not only goods but also trade in services, customs, trade facilitation, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, agriculture and fisheries, payment and capital movements, competition intellectual property, public procurement, environmental and social issues, and development funds, all of which will stimulate regional integration.
Other ACP states to initial agreements to date are sub-regions or one or two individual ACP states within a region. They have opted for ‘goods-only’ agreements with a commitment to continue negotiations on other aspects of the agreement in drawing up full EPAs by the end of 2008. Most, but not all, are middle income countries.They felt more of an urgency to initial due to the expiry of the WTO waiver for Cotonou’s trade agreement on 31 December 2007. The alternative would have been to face tariffs under the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP).
Only a handful of ACP countries are now in this position, including Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Nigeria and a group of Pacific Nations; the Cook Islands, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Niue, Micronesia, Palau and Nauru. EU trade offcials indicate that whereas Congo and Gabon have voiced interest in an EPA, Nigeria has declined to negotiate an EPA at this stage. They add that due to the low level of EU trade with the Pacific, this region will not suffer as many losses from GSP implementation.
“The ACP calls on the EU to ensure that all measures are taken to guarantee the continuation of trade on the same terms so that the economic operators remain in the market and the welfare and wellbeing of the citizens of ACP states are not jeopardised,” reads a recent statement from the Brussels ACP Secretariat.
It adds that some of the ‘interim agreements’ had been initialled under pressure and that these should be revisited as full agreements are drawn up during 2008.
Many ACP Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are still undecided about EPAs. Senegal’s President, Abdoulaye Wade, has indicated that his country is not ready for free trade. LDCs can still enjoy duty and quota free exports to the EU market under the EU’s ‘Everything but Arms Initiative’ drawn up in 2001.
But an EU Trade Directorate statement continues to stress the benefits of full EPAs: “They bring the opportunity to support the progressive integration of the ACP into the international economy and to make sure that the unparalleled ACP access to EU markets brings real trade growth and broad-based economic development; in short, the opportunity to deliver what Cotonou has not been able to.”
* There are a total of 79 ACP states but South Africa has a bi-lateral trade agreement with the EU and does not to become part of an EPA.
Who’s initialed so far? (as of 3 March 2008)
Full EPA:
CARICOM regional grouping: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti*, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago.
‘Interim’ or ‘goods only’ agreements:
Central Africa: Cameroon
East African Community:
Burundi,* Kenya, Rwanda,* Tanzania,* Uganda*
Eastern and Southern Africa:
Comoros,* Madagascar,* Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe
Pacific: Papua New Guinea, Fiji
West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana
Southern African Development Community (SADC):
Botswana, Lesotho,* Namibia, Mozambique,* Swaziland
Source: DG Trade, European Commission www.ec.europa.eu/trade/
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) marked with asterix*
