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The acp-eu-trade.org newsletter -- No. 23/November 2008
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In this issue:
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I. Trade Negotiations Insights Vol.7, No.9
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II. News: Highlights of the month
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III. Selection from the acp-eu-trade.org Library
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IV. Resources from Recent Events
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V. Resources on Upcoming Events
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Dear readers,
Welcome to the November issue of the acp-eu-trade.org newsletter!
Please find below a collection of press articles of the past month and a selection of new documents in the acp-eu-trade.org library. As usual, we also provide some resources on recent and upcoming events relevant to ACP-EU trade relations.
ACP-EU stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the various services provided via this website with the aim to exchange relevant information, build up trade negotiating capacity and facilitate networking activities. We therefore invite our readers to take an active role in www.acp-eu-trade.org by:
- Registering on-line as a trade and development expert to help mobilise the best expertise in ACP-EU trade and development matters and give interested parties easier access to information on relevant internationally recognized experts or consultants;
- Submitting relevant background and policy documents, news and links that will enrich the ACP-EU trade debate;
- Subscribing to our monthly newsletter as well as other partners' to be kept informed of latest developments in the ACP-EU trade realm;
- Sharing your views on the current ACP-EU Trade debate and providing feedback on the relevance and future focus areas of www.acp-eu-trade.org
We appreciate any feedback on this newsletter and look forward to your reactions. You may send your comments to acpeutrade@ecdpm.org.
Enjoy your reading!
Editors: Corinna Braun-Munzinger (cbm@ecdpm.org) and Stéphanie Colin (sco@ecdpm.org)
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I. Trade Negotiations Insights Vol.7, No.9
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The November 2008 issue of Trade Negotiations Insights (TNI), a joint monthly publication by ICTSD and ECDPM, is now available online at: www.ictsd.org/tni/index.htm and www.acp-eu-trade.org/tni
Trade Negotiations Insights , Vol. 7, No. 9, November 2008
• The dawn of a new era:Caribbean signs EPA with EU
• The global financial crisis:what does it mean for developing countries?
• WTO rules and the food crisis in LDCs: challenges and the way forward
• Investment provisions and commitments in the CARIFORUM-EU EPA
• Zambia and the EPA
• Development friendliness of dispute settlement mechanisms in the EPAs
• Nigeria and the challenge of the EPA
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Update
• Calendar and resources
Eclairage sur les Négociations , Vol.7, No.9, novembre 2008
• L’aube d’une nouvelle ère : les Caraïbes signent un APE avec l’UE
• La crise financière mondiale :Que signifie-t-elle pour les pays en développement ?
• Règles de l’OMC et crise alimentaire dans les PMA :défis et voie à suivre
• Dispositions et engagements en matière d’investissement dans l’APE UE-CARIFORUM
• La Zambie et l’APE
• Pour des mécanismes de règlement des différends des APE favorables au développement
• Le Nigeria et le défi de l’APE
• Aperçu sur l’OMC
• Le point sur les APE
• Calendrier et publications
** All-ACP **
* ACP expresses serious concerns on latest developments on bananas
ACP press statement, 15 November 2008
The ACP Group expressed shock that only a week after the EU signed the first Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with an ACP region (CARIFORUM), which supposes to secure, and expand preferential access for ACP bananas into the EU market, the EU has gone ahead to negotiate an FTA with the Central Americans in terms which pose serious threat to ACP preferences. [...] The ACP understands that the EU plans to lower the current levy on competing bananas from certain Central America States of 176 euros per tonne to 95 euros over ten years. The Chairman of the ACP Banana Working Group, Ambassador Gerhard Hiwat of Suriname , said that the new offer to Central America would mean the end of the banana industry in all the banana producing countries of the ACP Group.
* Economic Partnerships Agreements (EPAs) - will a new broom sweep cleaner?
Chris Stevens and Mareike Meyn, ODI Blog, 30 October 2008
The appointment of Baroness Ashton as the new European Trade Commissioner could provide the opportunity to apply balm to the fraught trade relationship between Europe and the African, Caribbean and Pacific ( ACP ) countries and bring the negotiations to a development-friendly conclusion. ODI research indicates that the emphasis should be on supporting an informed debate, dealing proactively with legitimate criticism, and ensuring stakeholder buy-in.
* EU Trade Commissioner Ashton on WTO and EPA next steps
Interview, BBC , 27 October 2008
On EPAs:
- With regard to Peter Mandelson's bullying - She admits to have heard lots of different stories, but she wants to find out from the ACP countries themselves as to 'where they think we are'
- 'It's not about unravelling what has already been agreed, but I do think that we need to look as we develop further the interim agreements into full agreements as an opportunity to look at style too and to make sure we have the best possible deal for all of us.'
- 'I wouldn't be prepared to reopen the whole negotiations, but in looking into extending and expanding the interim agreements there may be the case for looking again at what has been agreed in the interim agreements because that's relevant to the bigger agreement.'
-> watch the full interview here
** Caribbean **
* WTO Notification of the Cariforum-EU Economic Partnership Agreement
16 October 2008
*Final legal version of the Caribbean-EU EPA
Published in the Official Journal of the European Union, 30 October 2008
EN FR
** West Africa **
* The EU and Cote d'Ivoire sign stepping stone trade deal
Press release, European Commission, 26 November 2008
The EU and Côte d'Ivoire have signed a 'stepping stone' Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the first of its kind between the EU and an African trade partner. Amadou Koné, Côte d'Ivoire's Minister for African Integration and Karl Falkenberg, Deputy Director General for Trade at the European Commission, signed the deal in the Ivorian capital Abidjan. The agreement combines the benefits of a trade agreement with development assistance targeted at accelerating growth and development in Côte d'Ivoire . The final goal remains to conclude a full EPA with all the members of the West African region that will promote competitiveness, growth and investment while accelerating regional integration.
-> Memo: Interim Economic Partnership Agreements - West Africa: Ivory Coast and Ghana , 26 November 2008
-> Signature de l'APE d'étape CE-Côte d'Ivoire , Message de C. Ashton et L. Michel délivré par K. Falkenberg Abidjan, 26 novembre 2008
* UEMOA : Une position commune sur l'accès aux marchés internationaux
Bachirou Nana et Edwige T.B. Zongo, Lefaso.net / Sidwaya, 18 novembre 2008
Les ministres chargés du Commerce des Etats membres de l'Union économique et monétaire ouest africaine (UEMOA) se sont réunis, le 13 novembre 2008 à Ouagadougou, pour adopter une politique commune relative aux négociations commerciales bilatérales et multilatérales.
* The Council of the EU on 10 November 2008 adopted a decision on the signature and provisional application of the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between Ghana, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part
* West Africa: Common External Tariff - Region Adopts 5th Band
Abimbola Akosile, This Day / allAfrica.com, 4 November 2008
An extra band (5th) request made by Nigeria on the ECOWAS Common External Tariff (CET) has been adopted by the West African Ministers of Trade and Finance (Ministerial Monitoring Committee - MMC). The fifth band, which is the highest tariff of 35 per cent, was adopted by the ministers at their just concluded meeting held in Banjul, The Gambia; where they described it (band) as a great vision for the countries in West Africa.
** Central Africa **
* Relance : Les enjeux des Ape pour le Cameroun
Cameroon-info.net, 25 novembre 2008
L'étude sur l'impact sur les accords de partenariat économiques conclut aux opportunités pour le pays. [...]Ce rapport de près de 100 pages, réalisé à la requête de l'Ue avec pour but de quantifier l'impact de l'incidence fiscale de l'Ape, présente une estimation de cet impact à l'aide d'un "modèle d'équilibre général".
* Upgrade Level of Industrial Performance - Cameroon, UNIDO, E.U. set up programmes for enterprises
Lukong Pius Nyuylime, Cameroon Tribune / allAfrica.com, 24 November 2008
To better face international competition when the Economic Partnership Agreement between the Central African sub region and European Union is finalized, Cameroon and the European Union last November 11, launched a pilot program to improve the quality of products produced by local industries.
-> à voir aussi :
* Dossier de la rédaction sur le programme de mise à niveau au Cameroun
Cameroon Tribune, 24 November 2008
Le 11 novembre dernier, le ministre de l'Industrie, des Mines et du Développement technologique, Badel Ndanga Ndinga, a lancé à Yaoundé le Programme pilote d'appui à la mise à niveau, la normalisation et la qualité au Cameroun. Ce programme pilote, qui va durer trois ans, rentre dans le cadre du Programme d'appui et de soutien aux APE et vise à renforcer la compétitivité de l'économie, par un appui aux capacités de production et à la mise à niveau des entreprises et de l'environnement des affaires au Cameroun. [...] Concrètement, quel sera l'impact de la levée des barrières douanières sur l'économie camerounaise ? Qu'est-ce qui va être fait pour améliorer les capacités productives de nos entreprises ? Sur quoi portera la mise à niveau ? En quoi va consister le programme relatif à la normalisation et à la qualité ? Quelles sont les conditions à remplir pour bénéficier de ce programme ? Telles sont les questions auxquelles ce dossier va apporter des réponses.
* The Council of the EU on 31 October 2008 adopted a decision on the signature and provisional application of the stepping stone Economic Partnership Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Central Africa Party, of the other part
* Afrique centrale : Une structure pour la surveillance des affaires
Gaboneco.com, 27 octobre 2008
La rencontre de L'Union des patronats d'Afrique centrale (UNIPACE) s'est achevée le 25 octobre à Douala, au Cameroun, avec l'adoption d'un projet de création d'une structure sous-régionale chargée du contrôle et du suivi du climat des affaires en Afrique centrale. Cette réunion avait pour but d'identifier les moyens de renforcer le secteur privé en Afrique centrale dans la perspective de l'ouverture du marché sous-régional dans le cadre des Accords de partenariat économique (APE) avec l'Union européenne.
** ESA **
* Launch of COMESA Customs Union Postponed
COMESA, 25 November 2008
The Secretariat of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States (COMESA) has the honour to announce [...] the postponement of the 13th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Government, which was scheduled to be held in Victoria Falls , Zimbabwe from 7th to 8th December. 2008.
The postponement of the Summit takes into account the need to begin the process of implementing the task force decisions of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit held in Kampala, Uganda on 22nd October, 2008 regarding the harmonization of Free Trade Areas (FTA's) and Common External Tariffs (CET's) among the three Regional Economic Community (REC's). Of immediate priority is the harmonisation of the CET's of COMESA and EAC. The consultations between the two Regional Economic Communities will go beyond 8th December, 2008 which is when the COMESA Customs Union was scheduled to be launched.
* EAC may fail to meet trade pact deadline
George Omondi, Business Daily, 19 November 2008
Kenya and other East African countries may not beat the December deadline of signing a comprehensive trade pact with Europe , a key negotiator has warned. "Key contentious issues such as import taxes and most-favoured-nation (MFN) are still outstanding, making the December 2008 such a tall order for the negotiating team," Benard Kagira, a trade technical assistant at the Trade ministry told a participants at a seminar in Nairobi to discuss economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the EU.
* EU and East African Community negotiators hold EPA talks in Brussels, 11-12 November 2008
EPA Flash News, European Commission, 17 November 2008
EU and East African Community negotiators held meetings at technical level on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on 11-12 November 2008 in Brussels . [...] An interim or "framework" EPA ("FEPA") has been initialled by all five EAC Partner States, with a single Market Access offer, at the end of 2007, and the parties are now negotiating a "full" EPA with a view to signing it in 2009. During the meetings in Brussels , negotiators finished the discussions on sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues, and customs and trade facilitation.
* EU and ESA negotiators hold EPA talks in Lusaka (Zambia, 4-7 November 2008)
EPA Flash News, European Commission, 13 November 2008
From 4 to 7 November 2008, European and ESA negotiators met at technical and senior levels in Lusaka (Zambia) to discuss the way forward on the Economic Partnership Agreement with the region. The "interim" EPA should be signed in early March 2009, possibly in Mauritius. Negotiations focused on the "full" EPA, with main issues on the table being: Market Access and Agriculture, Trade in Services, Development and Trade Related Issues. [...] Next negotiating round is tentatively scheduled for early 2009 in Brussels.
** SADC **
* Botswana tenses its muscles against South Africa on trade issues
Sunday Standard, 24 November 2008
Botswana has taken out its cloves against South Africa 's bulling attitude in the ongoing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) trade negotiations. [...]James Masisi, Botswana 's chief negotiator in the ongoing marathon negotiations, accused South Africa of being selfish and not interested in the development of the entire region.
-> see also: * Botswana hopeful about the EPAs
Sunday Standard, 5 November 2008
* EU deal 'should not impair regulation'
M. Le Roux, www.bday.co.za / tralac, 13 November 2008
SA should not allow trade negotiations in services to undermine the country's regulatory capacity but should insist on its right to regulate in the public interest, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies yesterday said. The remarks appeared to be a veiled reference to the European Union's (EU's) demand for services liberalisation in negotiations on the economic partnership agreement (EPA). SA opted out of an interim EPA at the end of last year, in part because of an EU demand that services liberalisation form part of the agreement. Davies yesterday said South African services industries had few interests in the EU, which meant the agreement would see SA making concessions without receiving much benefit in return.
-> full text of the speech: Deputy Minister Davies' address at the 2008 Service Exporter Network Conference , Department of Trade and Industry, South Africa, 12 November 2008
* Economic Partnership Agreements and Intellectual Property Rights protection: challenges for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region
Dorica Suvye Phiri, SAIIA. 10 November 2008
There is a possibility that IPR provisions in the EU- CARIFORUM may influence the negotiations of other EPAs. In that agreement, the EU has made provisions for higher IPR standards than what is provided in the WTO Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPS Agreement). [...T ]he inclusion of IPR in the EPAs (let alone TRIPS- plus provisions) may have a number of serious development-related consequences for SADC countries. It is important that these considerations should be kept in mind when considering IPR issues in the EPAs generally and SADC countries in particular.
* EU SADC EPA negotiations 3-6.11.08 in Brussels
EPA Flash News, European Commission
Negotiators met at technical and senior officials level. They discussed the signing of the IEPA with the EU suggesting this could take place in early February 2009. Also further discussed market access issues with SA and both sides agreed to exchange improved offers by mid-December. Both sides also discussed matters related to rules of origin, services and investments, sustainable development and concerns on the IEPA text, raised by the SADC EPA Group. Further negotiations in view of a full EPA could be held in the SADC EPA region, hopefully at the time of signature in February 2009.
** Pacific **
* Europe lifts ban on kava: report
Fiji Times / Island Business, 12 November 2008
Fiji Kava Council chairman, Ratu Josateki Nawalowalo said the removal of the restriction on kava trade in European countries was a result of a 10-day roundtable consultation between Pacific Island ambassadors, European Commission leaders based in Brussels and the German Government Authorities in Berlin .
-> see also: * Lifting the German 'ban' on kava exports - Outcome and strategies of IKEC-EU consultations , Press release, International Kava Executive Council, 29 October 2008
(For further information on the position of the IKEC, contact Eddie Wilson, Co-Chairman, at wilex@ipasifika.net )
* D-Day for Pacific on deal with Europe - Islands stay united on EPA negotiations, for now!
Samisoni Pareti, Islands Business, 9 November 2008
Fourteen Pacific members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (PACP) bloc of countries are digging in over their negotiations with the European Union for an economic partnership agreement (EPA). Their refusal to relent to European pressure will most likely mean the deadline set for the signing of an EPA by December won't be met. "The timeline we have set for ourselves should not come at the expense of this extremely crucial, central and yet thus far an elusive objective," said Ratu Epeli Nailatikau of Fiji, when he chaired the latest meeting of the Pacific trade ministers who are members of the Pacific ACP group.
* Pacific countries to look to extend EPA negotiations into 2009
Radio New Zealand International, 6 November 2008
The Pacific Network on Globalisation, or PANG, says it expects trade deal negotiations between Pacific trade ministers and the European Commission to be extended into next year. Negotiations over Economic Partnership Agreements, or EPAs, had been supposed to conclude by the end of next month but PANG says an agreement remains some way off because key issues have still not been resolved.
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III. Selection from the acp-eu-trade.org Library
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* The Aid for Trade Agenda and accompanying measures for EPAs - Current state of affairs
Dan Lui, ECDPM Discussion Paper 86, November 2008
The Aid for Trade (AfT) agenda emerged at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in late 2005, yet progress in moving beyond the discussion of concepts and towards concrete implementation in the African, Caribbean and Pacific ( ACP ) countries has proved complicated, and there are still a number of outstanding issues involved in translating the concept into workable proposals.
* Council Conclusions on regional integration and the Economic Partnership Agreements for development in the ACP countries Council of the European Union, 11 November 2008
EN FR
* Trade and Governance - Does governance matter for trade?
Christina Weller and Karin Ulmer, Background Paper, Aprodev, November 2008
This background paper on the links between trade and governance identifies the main areas of interaction between the two, and some gaps in current understanding. With imminent bilateral and regional trade negotiations between developed and developing countries and regions, as well as ongoing multilateral negotiations, the authors believe it is vital to take into account impacts on governance during the process of negotiations, and in the negotiated agreements themselves.
* Contentious issues in IEPA negotiations: implications and questions in the agricultural sector
Special Report, Agritrade, CTA , October 2008
In some interim economic partnership agreements (IEPAs) a number of contentious issues have emerged, which in some countries will have profound and immediate implications for national agricultural development policies. The aim of this briefing is to set out the concerns around these issues with a view to assisting ACP governments in assessing whether they are relevant in their national situations.
EN FR
* Fisheries market access; tariff and non-tariff aspects
Executive brief, Agritrade, CTA , October 2008
The EU as a bloc is the world's largest market for fish and provides ACP countries with their most lucrative market for fish. This executive brief analyses the main challenges currently faced by ACP exporters in maintaining access for their fishery products to the EU market.
EN FR
* Undercutting Africa, Economic Partnership Agreements, forests and the European Union's quest for Africa's raw materials
Ronnie Hall, Report, Friends of the Earth, October 2008
One of the most worrying aspects of EPAs is that all ACP countries are being put under extreme pressure to open their markets. The inclusion of investment liberalisation in the Caribbean EPA also provides a clear and worrying indication of an additional commitment the EU will seek from other ACP countries if EPA negotiations continue. Liberalising investment in sectors such as forests and agriculture - both of which are mentioned explicitly in the Caribbean EPA's investment clauses - could have a dramatic impact on deforestation rates, subsistence farming and food security.
* Ratification of EPAs: the process required in each ACP state
Advocates for International Development, published at normangirvan.info
A4ID has been asked by a number of NGOs to provide them with an overview of the ratification process that would be used in each of the ACP countries to ratify entry into an EPA with the EU. In relation to each ACP country this overview identifies the ratification process including in particular:
- whether competencies for entry into EPAs by the ACP countries lie at national level or regional level;
- the process that must be followed in each case.
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IV. Resources from Recent Events
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* Fifth Meeting of the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers
26 November 2008 , Georgetown
The meeting addressed the implementation of the CARIFORUM-EC EPA.
-> Opening remarks , Edwin W. Carrington, Secretary General, CARIFORUM
-> Opening remarks , Henry Jeffrey, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Guyana
-> Self-examination needed now – Minister Jeffrey tells CARIFORUM Meeting , press release, CARICOM
* Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED)
24-25 November 2008, Georgetown
The Meeting noted that fourteen CARIFORUM Member States have notified the EC Depository of the completion of the domestic procedures to facilitate [the] provisional application [of the EC-CARIFORUM-EPA] and that all the CARIFORUM Member States would have completed the process by mid-December 2008.
-> Presentations and final statement
* ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), Port Moresby
24-28 November 2008
-> Meeting documents on the website of the JPA (including e.g. European Commission Replies to Oral questions and Speeches by the Co-Presidents) EN FR
-> ACP press release: EPA concerns highlighted at ACP Assembly , 24 November 2008
*Business implications of EPA negotiations in Central Africa / Implications commerciales des négociations concernant les Accords de partenariat économique (APE) pour l'Afrique centrale
26-27 November 2008, Douala
This meeting is part of a series of dialogues organised by the International Trade Centre.
-> Meeting documents on the ITC website
-> Note d'information EN FR
* SAIIA - ODI - ECDPM conference: Regional Economic Integration in Southern Africa
24-25 November 2008
The conference aims to provide a platform for a discussion on whether and how EPAs can help foster regional integration in southern Africa, or whether the reverse may be the case, in other words how the politics and technical issues can be aligned, if at all.
-> Information on the ECDPM website
* COMESA Trade & Investment Conference
18-19 November 2008, Brussels
-> Programme EN FR
-> Conference website EN FR
*Seminar on legal aspects of trade policy, bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, organised by TradeCom
17-21 November 2008, Brussels
-> Programme, list of participants and presentations and background material on the TradeCom website
* CARIFORUM-EU Business Forum
24-25 November 2008, Bridgetown
-> Press Release, CRNM, 24 November 2008
* EPA dissemination seminar
11-12 November 2008, Belize
-> Press release, CRNM, 11 November 2008
* EU-SADC Double Troika Ministerial Meeting
11 November 2008, Brussels
-> Communiqué
* EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, with development ministers
10-11 November 2008, Brussels
-> see III. Selection from the acp-eu-trade.org Library for Council Conclusions on regional integration and EPAs
* First meeting of ECCAS and the EU at Ministerial Troika level
10 November 2008, Brussels
-> Final Joint Communiqué (see page 6-7 on regional economic integration and EPAs)
* Forum on "Ghana's Position Within the EPA's Negotiations, Its Impacts on Trade and Livelihood "
Kumasi
The Forum was jointly organized by the Resource Foundation and Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition. 100 participants attended, including civil society organizations, traders, political parties representatives.
-> Press article , Ghanaweb, 1 November 2008
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V. Resources on Upcoming Events
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* PROMOTE 2008, Salon International de l´Entreprise, organisé par Pro€Invest
5-14 décembre 2008, Yaoundé
-> contact
* EC DG Trade-Civil Society meeting on EPAs and Gender
Civil Society Dialogue on EPAs and Gender, organised by DG Trade, European Commission
10 December 2008 , Brussels
-> Programme and registration
* SADC-EC EPA Ministers and Senior Officials negotiations
8-12 December 2008
* 88th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers
14-17 December 2008, Brussels
Ministers are expected to discuss the ACP -EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement and to review and agree the ACP mandate for negotiations on this which start at the beginning of 2009.
* Central Africa-EC EPA Technical and Senior Official negotiations
First half of December, Libreville (see EPA calendar on EC website , date to be confirmed)