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The acp-eu-trade.org newsletter -- No. 6/December 2006
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The acp-eu-trade.org newsletter -- No. 6/December 2006
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***Special 20 th Anniversary of ECDPM issue***
In this issue:
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**Announcement**
On 18 and 19 December 2006, on the occasion of its 20th Anniversary,
ECDPM is hosting a seminar to discuss
"The Cotonou Partnership Agreement: What role in a changing world?"
Follow the conference and send your comments on the questions and issues under discussion at: http://cotonoupartnership.blogspot.com
EN FR
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Three questions to…:
Amb. Lingston Cumberbatch, Project Director of the ACP EPA Programme Management Unit (PMU)
And
Dieter Frisch, Former Director General for Development at the European Commission.
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EPA Negotiations Update
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News: Highlights of the Month
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Selection from www.acp-eu-trade.org's Library
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Resources from Recent Events
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**Announcement**
"The Cotonou Partnership Agreement: What role in a changing world?"
Around the event of our 20 th Anniversary, ECDPM has taken the initiative to organize a debate on the strengths and weaknesses of the CPA so far and its future orientations. In this respect, ECDPM hosts a seminar on 18 and 19 December to discuss "The Cotonou Partnership Agreement: What role in a changing world?"
We request your comments on the questions and issues under discussion.
We have set up a blog to share information on the discussions. It also allows interested people to add their comments. Visit the blog at: http://cotonoupartnership.blogspot.com
Four major questions are on the agenda:
- Is the increased political focus of ACP-EU cooperation contributing to development?
- Has the Cotonou Agreement led to greater involvement of Non-State Actors?
- Are EPAs an instrument for development and poverty reduction?
- How much has the emphasis on performance and the rationalisation of
instruments and management of aid contributed to more effective and
efficient development programmes?
For each question, specialists have prepared background papers. We will be discussing these in the face to face meetings in Maastricht . We aim to share the outputs of these discussions on the conference blog – also ‘live' during the conference. So please return to the blog to catch up with the debates.
We also want to hear your comments and experiences on the questions being discussed.
At http://cotonoupartnership.blogspot.com we have extracted some of the issues and questions under discussion. Please add your comments or opinions on the topics that interest you. You will also be able to see what others think.
We especially want to hear your experiences and opinions that reinforce, modify or disagree with the ideas already expressed. Any suggestions or proposals you have for more effective future ACP-EU cooperation are particularly welcome.
Using the Internet in this way, we hope to broaden and enrich the dialogue on ways to make Europe 's development efforts more effective.
We hope we can count on your contributions!
ECDPM and Euforic
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Dear readers,
On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of ECDPM, we are pleased to send you this special issue of the acp-eu-trade newsletter.
For the flagship section of our newsletter, we have put our “Three questions to” to two Board Members of ECDPM, Mr Dieter Frisch, Former Director General for Development at the European Commission and Amb. Lingston Cumberbatch, Project Director of the ACP EPA Project Management Unit (PMU) to provide you with a historical perspective on the ACP-EU relations since their inception.
And don't forget…!
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!
Editor: Davina Makhan ( dm@ecdpm.org )
1. What in your view have been the major positive developments in the ACP-EU relations over the last 20 years?
Lingston Cumberbatch: The positive elements in the relationship can be said to have been economic, political and consultative.
The EU has been not only the largest source of aid to ACP countries and regions, but that aid has been organized in a structured, continuous, predictable, comprehensive long-term framework, central to which was the concept of programming first introduced over 30 years ago. There are no other forms of international aid that are so organized, although many have sought to follow the example of programming which since 1975 has placed the recipient at centre stage.
This has been of enormous benefit to ACP countries in permitting them to better design their development programmes and to plan ahead. As a former public servant dealing with the EU, I also greatly valued the programming process. For many years this determined how the bulk of EU aid to ACP countries was deployed.
In an era when commodity prices were unstable and on a downward trend, many ACP countries derived significant benefit from the innovative STABEX system introduced in Lomé I. The SYSMIN scheme introduced under Lomé II enabled a number of countries to receive funds to support the difficult challenge of economic restructuring in mineral dependent economies.
On the trade side, very real benefits have been gained in those areas where significant margins of tariff preference are enjoyed. However this applies to only 25% of what the ACP export, since for 75% of ACP exports there is no tariff preference over other third country suppliers. In addition to the structural development impacts of the banana, sugar and beef protocols in a number of countries, particular benefits have been gained in the fisheries sector and the fruit and vegetable sector, transforming the profile of their exports to the EU. The ACP is now a major supplier of fisheries products to the EU, whose own supplies have been progressively exhausted. In the fruit and vegetable sector the ACP provide 9% of all papayas imported into the EU, 17% of all passion fruit, 25% of all pineapples, 33% of all aubergine imports and a massive 49% of all peas and beans imports, to name but a few of the ACP success stories. Much of this has been made possible by the success of non-reciprocal trade preferences, successes which for many years in the late 1980s and 1990s were undermined by massive declines in the prices of basic commodities which ACP countries had traditionally supplied – ranging from coffee and cocoa prices, to copper and other basic mineral prices.
In many respects, although the ACP saw some very tough years during this period, they would have been much worse without the non-reciprocal trade preferences extended under the Lomé Conventions.
On the political side, I value very highly the increased prominence given in the partnership to issues of good governance, human rights and the rule of law. In my early years as an Ambassador in Brussels , the Committee of Ambassadors avoided discussion of politically sensitive issues. This is no longer the case but there still remains a residual reluctance to face some sensitive issues head on. Fortunately there are no such inhibitions in the Joint Parliamentary Assembly which has played a key role in dealing with these issues.
Political dialogue is a long-standing feature of the relationship which has been worthy of emulation. So too is the consultative process particularly as regards Article 96 issues.
Dieter Frisch: In my view the positive developments in the ACP-EU relations have been less in the technical area, but much more in the quality of our relationship. The Lomé and now the Cotonou agreements have indeed grown from rather technical schemes of cooperation in the trade and aid field into a development policy and even a political dimension.
Our relationship has reached a degree of maturity which allows partners to openly discuss delicate issues, such as human rights, democratization, rule of law, good governance, which were taboos until the 1990 's , although they are closely linked to development. We have become ‘maturer partners'!
The awareness has grown that our ACP partners have to take responsibility for their own development and that external support can only complement their policies. The concept of ownership has become key; the EU has come to understand that dialogue and advice may be welcome, conditionality is not.
In this context, the quality of governance – in terms of transparent and accountable management of scarce resources – is of crucial importance: the EU feels entitled to expect that their ACP partners manage their own resources – I here think of the enormous oil revenue – in a developmental manner in the first place. Consequently, the country's development performance has rightly become a criterion for the allocation of EU assistance.
Another positive feature has been the inclusion of non-state actors in our cooperation relationship. Although development needs strong and efficient state institutions, partners have recognized the precious complementary role which the private sector and civil society organizations can and should play. This multi-actor approach has undoubtedly been a positive development.
Last but not least, it is worth noting that ACP-EU relations – despite the end of the Cold War, the emergence of new priorities in EU foreign relations (Eastern and Southern neighbourhood ) and the attractiveness exerted by emerging economies in Asia and Latin America – has remained an undisputed priority and firm pillar in the EU's external policy.
2. What are the key challenges for this ACP-EU partnership in the coming 20 years?
LC: In all of these areas I mentioned there are new challenges. On the aid side, while the scope of what the EC is trying to support has expanded, to bring in the business community and other non state actors, to cover the environment and private sector development, infrastructure, HIV Aids to name a few, the procedural arrangements for the deployment of EC aid have not evolved in a constructive way and those designed for long term state to state cooperation are proving to be inadequate. It can sometimes take many years from the nominal allocation of funds to get to the signing of contracts for the implementation of activities.
The implementation of adjustment support for the EPAs now being negotiated will require different procedures or mechanisms if the support to the adjustment of ACP economies is not to be too long delayed.
Of increasing concern also is the fact that under Cotonou less than half of the EDF funding is being provided through national and regional programming processes and more and more money is being deployed through discretionary instruments managed by the EC. This raises fundamental questions about the nature of the political relationship. Is EU aid meant to support locally defined priorities in line with locally defined needs and aspirations, or is it to promote an EU policy agenda?
This is a core challenge at the heart of future ACP-EU aid and trade relationship.
On the aid to trade side, while STABEX and SYSMIN were abandoned under the Cotonou Agreement, the FLEX scheme has proved to be singularly ineffective in meeting ACP needs, further illustrating the need for carefully considered and structured procedural reforms which place the realities in ACP countries at centre stage. However, addressing this issue of course has to go hand in hand with improvements in governance, accountability and transparency in ACP countries.
On the trade side the major challenge of preference erosion needs to be recognised and addressed. From an ACP perspective this is a much more serious challenge than is recognised. In the coming years not only will ACP countries face more competition on the EU market, but also more competition from EU suppliers on their national and regional markets. Establishing the preconditions for an effective adjustment to this competition is the underlying reason why reciprocity under the EPAs need to be carefully considered and carefully structured.
From a broader perspective, the key challenges facing the ACP-EU partnership relate to :
- reconciling the relationship, including in particular its development orientation, with the requirements for integration into the world economy. That relationship will necessarily have regional variations, and needs to be customized. But the principles and approaches should be similar;
- assisting in the development of governance in ACP countries at all levels - the legislature, the executive and judiciary, and civil society. Again, regional needs will differ to some extent and will require customized approaches;
- encouraging EU countries - with a special challenge in respect of the newer members of the EU - to be more open to the opportunities offered by the diversity of ACP countries, not only in respect of resources and market, but of their immense cultural and human wealth.
At a practical level key issues relate to:
• formulating an effective policy response (and associated policy instruments) to the challenge of preference erosion;
• giving priority to regionally driven processes of integration and cooperation;
• carefully structuring and supporting the EPAs so that ACP countries in reality gain the benefits promised under them;
• making sure ACP countries maintain their share of EU development assistance flows so that the new EPA related adjustment can be met, without diverting funds away from existing priorities linked to the MDGs;
• addressing the procedural, technological and human challenges to meet the needs of effective aid delivery and absorption constraints.
This latter challenge is critical to the future of the ACP-EU relationship in terms of its delivery on the ground and the political credibility of the EU as a cooperating partner at a time when other countries are delivering on increasing volumes of aid projects on time, within budget and to agreed specifications.
DF: While accepting the political dimension of the ACP-EU relationship as a positive element, we must avoid over-politicizing it. The development dimension must remain on an equal footing with foreign policy and security elements. We must deal with the security-development nexus not just by tackling the symptoms –“peace is a condition for development” -, but mainly the root causes –“development is a condition for peace and stability”. The development orientation of our relations remains crucial.
The EU should continue to accompany ACP partners on their road to building and consolidating democratic structures, in particular through decentralized participatory development. Upholding political and civil rights must go together with improving economic and social rights, i.e. better living conditions.
As there is no short-cut to development, we must have the patience to invest in areas which will only in the longer term bear fruit: education, health, family planning. The demographic evolution, particularly in Africa , is a cause of major concern. The race between present population growth rates and the necessary development of education and health services and infrastructure cannot be won!
Regional integration seems to be a condition for sustainable development of almost all ACP countries. The EU can bring its own experience into play. Supporting the consolidation of regional groupings is a major challenge for our partnership. It is the indispensable first stage of the implementation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). It is only when this step is made that a gradual and asymmetrical opening of ACP markets can be envisaged. The third stage of the rocket would then be – in a long term perspective – the gradual and harmonious integration of ACP economies in the world market.
A key challenge for our partnership is a better integration of trade and aid instruments. Experience shows indeed that trade preferences alone do not boost trade. The main constraints are on the supply-side: deficient production, transport, marketing structures. To overcome these bottlenecks it is not sufficient to take a few trade promotion measures: it will be necessary to allocate significant amounts of aid to remedy the structural deficiencies, in particular in the field of infrastructure. This will also help to make ACP countries more attractive to private investment.
The ACP-EU relationship should continue to build on frank dialogue among “grown-up partners” and not shy away from raising difficult questions about economic reforms, human rights, good governance or even the fight against corruption. Our common concern must continue to be development: and that requires open discussions and exchange of views and experience. Or would ACP countries prefer to deal with other partners who only seek access to their raw materials and markets and who do not raise the questions about the developmental use of their scarce resources as they are not really concerned about their economic and social development?
3. Given the intense EPA negotiations between the six ACP regions and the EU, and the European strategies towards Africa , the Caribbean and the Pacific, how do you see the future of the ACP as a group?
LC: Ten years ago my good friend Dieter Frisch detected a clear ranking of importance ACP countries vis-à-vis others. He saw the ACP as countries that were 'fairly at the end', behind the US , Eastern Europe , the Mediterranean , Asia , and Latin America . He was right of course. But interest in Africa is rising. Africa is becoming an increasing target in the hunt from various sources for global energy and mineral resources. This is not the case for the Caribbean and the Pacific and it is reflected in changing EU policies.
The Caribbean , deemed to be much better off than many developing counties is in danger of being sidelined. The focus of support from longstanding partners, the UK , the EU is on Africa and rightly so. This is in part due to the fact that the countries in the Caribbean region are relatively well off. This is also true for the Pacific which has seen its membership in the ACP grow.
Given peculiar needs and opportunities, inevitably some regionalization of relations would be beneficial. Nevertheless there are strong similarities in the problems faced across regions. Whether you're a small island economy in the Caribbean , Pacific, Africa or Indian Ocean , you face the same vulnerabilities and constraints on engaging competitively with the global economy. Whether you're a competitive banana producing country such as Cameroon or Belize , you face the same competitive forces and procedural constraints on getting assistance for restructuring. This creates tremendous scope for practical inter-regional cooperation across the ACP.
There is an urgent need to share common experiences, learn and share the different lessons of that experience and ensure that best practices are replicated whether they are drawn from experience sin the Caribbean the Pacific or Africa . More systematic exchanges of information are needed, to strengthen the delivery of financial and technical cooperation in meeting the common restructuring challenges which are faced as a result of preference erosion and the imminence of reciprocity. It would be a shame to let the potential of the ACP, which quite literally spans the globe, go to waste after such solid foundations have been laid over the past 30 years.
The ACP Secretariat has a major role to play in addressing the challenges which the Group faces. This will require a strengthened Secretariat and a determined effort to implement the decisions of the Summits of Heads of State and Governments many of which focus on this issue.
The ACP group also has an important role to play in shaping wider world development policies and practices, and political relations, as the vanguard or role model of effective forms of development cooperation.
DF: This question should be put to the ACP side. If they want to remain together as a group, I cannot imagine that the EU would challenge this position. However, the ACP should not rely on the EU to keep them together, nor should they suspect the EU to want to divide them.
One must admit however that from the outset the regrouping of the three components of the ACP was not evident. It happened in a specific historical context after the accession of the UK to the EC. The motivation of Caribbean and Pacific countries to join the Africans in their negotiations with the EC must have been simply to increase their bargaining power. Do they have a better alternative today? My feeling is that the Caribbeans see themselves closer to the Africans that to Latin America ; and the Pacific countries would be lost among the Asian giants.
The sub-regional approach adopted under the EPA scheme makes a lot of economic sense. It is indeed almost inconceivable for certain technical matters, in particular in the trade area, to adopt a single approach for 77 countries. So, instead of going down to the national level, the intermediate regional level represents the optimal geographic dimension.
However, this should by no means hinder the ACP to remain ‘united in diversity”! Even in the EPA negotiations they can deal jointly with problems the different regions have in common.
As a group, made of sub regional building blocks, the ACP fits well the general approach of the EU which has always shown a keen preference for dealing with regions rather than with individual countries. The EU's relations with Latin America and the Mercosur, the Andean Group and Central America or with the ASEAN in South East Asia are good examples of this approach. Consequently from a political point of view, I have no doubt that the ACP have a genuine interest to remain together as a group. Their political weight and their bargaining power are at stake.
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By Melissa Julian
This section elaborates on the EPA Update provided in the latest issue of the two-monthly “Trade Negotiations Insights From Doha to Cotonou ”. To read it in full, visit our E-Newsletter section on www.acp-eu-trade.org , and select EPA Negotiations Update (long version) under acp-eu-trade.org newsletter, or click here.
November-December 2006
Summary
* EU Responds to ACP concerns…
* …But is it Enough?
* African Union
* Central Africa
* West Africa
* Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA)
* SADC
* Caribbean
* Pacific
A fundamental divergence of view in all EPA negotiations relates to the ACP's call for the EU to make binding commitment in the legal text of each EPA for additional resources beyond the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) to effectively cover EPA related costs for reforms, capacity building, improving competitiveness and implementation of the agreements. The EC has maintained that it cannot include development finance in the EPA itself since ACP and EU agreed this aspect within the Cotonou Agreement and has no mandate to negotiating funding issues in an EPA. Any additional funding would have to come from EU Member States or other donors. The EU is committed, however, to supporting poverty alleviation in developing countries, increasing aid (including aid for trade) and aid effectiveness and to monitoring EPAs for development objectives. And the linkages between the trade and development agendas are increasingly being made both in the multilateral context and in relation to the WTO and EPA negotiations. The WTO round's suspension and the EPA review and scheduled negotiation deadlines are helping to move EPAs further up national political agendas. [click here to read more]
All eyes are now on the ACP to see if the Council conclusions are sufficient to unblock EPA negotiations. Is it enough additional money? (the ACP have called for upwards of € 9.2 billion euros for a 10 year period). Is it legally binding enough? Does it sufficiently address supply side constraints? Will the lack of a specific EPA Facility be acceptable considering the difficulty the ACP often have in mainstreaming trade policy in to national development policies? What about the other development aspects the ACP have called for such as proper sequencing of market building and market access commitments, holistic development approaches, transition periods, etc.?
The likely focus in the coming months, in addition to EPA trade liberalisation negotiations, will be on identifying specific needs at national level, negotiating these with the EU and on exploring how to ensure the effective delivery and use of EU commitments.
The EC and the Commission of the African Union met in October, followed by a meeting of the EU - Africa Ministerial Troika Meeting.
Ministers reaffirmed that EPA's should serve as an instrument for development, poverty reduction and to reinforce the economic integration process in Africa and Africa 's integration in the global economy. Conclusions from the meetings noted the AU Summit decision on the coordinating role of the Commission of the African Union with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to ensure optimal synergy and harmonization of programmes and policies within and among the RECs in relation to EPAs. They agreed that the rationalisation of the RECs and the EPA negotiations are mutually re-enforcing processes, which will facilitate both regional economic integration and the utilisation of the regional envelopes foreseen under the 10th EDF.
Ministers also welcomed the capacity building component on regional integration for the AUC included in the € 55 million grant provided to the African Union.
There continued to be little progress in the negotiations between Central Africa and the EU in September and October. The main divergences continue to be the issues of reinforcement of production capacity and the inclusion of financing mechanisms in the EPAs (see previous EPA Update-footnote). All meetings have been postponed since the joint technical group meeting in July which discussed these issues. Sources indicate that Central Africa will not pass on to the next phase of negotiations on market access as long as the issue of reinforcement of production capacities is not settled. [click here to read more]
The West Africa EPA Ministerial Monitoring Committee, composed of Ministers of Commerce of West African Member States, met at the beginning of October to discuss progress in EPA negotiations. (See the main reports from meeting).
Ministers considered the results of the regional validation seminar on the report on the sectors of production and the EPA reference framework held at the end of July. The reports include information on regional integration, trade, the situation of production sectors, ways to improve competitivity and mobilisation of resources for implementation of the EPA. Ministers agreed to present the documents to the EU with a view to their joint adoption. A working group was also established to continue gathering information to input into the report. To determine sensitive and strategic products, the group will organise a regional technical seminar this year to define these with a view to determining national, and a regional, lists to be validated by another workshop in June 2007. Regional secretariats will elaborate the process of formulating programmes to improve productivity and competitivity. The report is intended to be integrated into the EPA reference framework and regularly updated throughout the negotiating and implementation of EPAs. [click here to read more]
* Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA)
The first session of text based negotiations between ESA and the EC senior officials/ambassadorial level negotiators was held in September. The meeting reviewed the draft EPA text submitted by ESA in August (which covers development cooperation, market access, services, agriculture, fisheries and trade related issues) and the comments presented by the EC on this.
The EC accepted much of the ESA draft text as the basis for further negotiations, including objectives and principles relating to the development aspect of the EPA . The EU, however, rejected proposals in the development chapter to include financial commitments for EPA implementation support maintaining that this should be included instead in the 10 th EDF programming exercise and in other development programming. ESA maintained that, based on their regional development matrix which sets out needs to implement EPAs at some €10bn , that additional resources to the 10 th EDF will be necessary. They also argued that an EPA development co-operation mechanism is necessary because the Cotonou Agreement expires in 2020, while EPAs will carry on infinitely. [click here to read more]
The EC and EU Member States continue to consider SADC's proposed framework for the EPA negotiations presented in March, which if accepted would require a change in the EU negotiating mandate to include South Africa as a negotiating partner in the EPA. The EU is also considering the EC's mandate for the review of the South Africa Trade and Development Cooperation Agreement (TDCA). (For an outline of the SADC proposal and the EU's initial comments see previous EPA updates in TNI Vol 5 No.2 and TNI Vol.5 No.3 ). The official position on both is not expected until November. Sources indicate that discussions amongst EU Member States are focussed on the tariff treatment to be provided to South Africa , via the TDCA or a SADC EPA, considering its level of competitiveness in relation to other SADC members. The EU is also exploring the WTO compatibility of the proposed contractualisation of EBA market access for Angola , Mozambique and Tanzania . Finally, trade related issues are seen by the EC as essential to the development component of EPAs, making the SADC proposal to exclude them from negotiations not acceptable. SADC EPA countries believe negotiations in these areas are at best premature due to lack of regional common policies in these areas.
CARIFORUM and EU Technical and Principal Negotiators met at the end of September. Considerable progress was made in converging approaches to development issues. Both sides agreed the EPA would contain horizontal provisions on development cooperation and an outline of potential areas for cooperation in the various disciplines which would be regularly reviewed. On the content of the horizontal chapter, CARIFORUM put forwarded proposals for it to include elements in relation to regional integration, sustainable development, EC development funding and cooperation in international fora. The EC welcomed the proposal, but not the specific reference to EC development support which they said should not be a permanent provision in the EPA. The EC noted that a substantial increase of the Caribbean regional allocation and possibilities of further support to EPA both at regional and national level are envisaged. [click here to read more]
Intensive EPA preparations have continued in the Pacific, with three straight months of consultations taking place in national capitals and completed in October. The national consultations have focussed mainly on assisting PACP countries in identifying their offensive and defensive market access interests with respect to trade in services under the EPA (goods having been the focus of consultations completed earlier in the year). While the consultations reportedly proceeded well, the lack of experience for many countries in the region with GATS-based rules on services highlighted the need for providing national officials and other stakeholders the time for working through the complex issues. [click here to read more]
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News: Highlights of the Month
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* L'E-alert Afrique-UE désormais disponible en français! Veuillez contacter les éditeurs pour plus d'informations*
* EU-Africa e-alert -- No. 4 / December 2006
Contents
I – Focus: The implementation of the EU Strategy towards Africa
II – The African Union: Africa in a broader context and the RECs
III – EU external aid: EDF 10, new instruments of EC external aid and EU development cooperation policy
IV – Peace and Security
V – Governance
VI – EPA negotiations
VII – Migration and development
VIII – EU-AU relations and follow up of the EU Strategy for Africa
IX – An actor in EU-AU relations: AWEPA
Click here to access directly the EU-Africa e-alert
Contact: europafrica.e-alert@ecdpm.org . Please also send a mail to this address if you want to unsubscribe from this e-alert.
From our acp-eu-trade.org News section:
* 17-12-06: With regard to EPAs and EDF 10 Regional Indicative Programming, EC sources indicate that RIP program
With regard to EPAs and EDF 10 Regional Indicative Programming, EC sources indicate that RIP programming is EPA-related and EPA support should not be isolated from EDF programming. One of the priorities of EDF10 is the support to EPA. This does not prejudice the EPA-related use of non-EDF resources.
* 17-12-06 : The next ACP Council of Ministers will be held in Brussels in the first semester of 2007.
The next ACP Council of Ministers will be held in Brussels in the first semester of 2007. It will be followed by the 30 th session of the ACP-EC Council of Ministers.
* 06-12-06 : EC is working on a Council decision to authorise opening negotiations with South Africa TDCA
The EC is working on a Council decision to authorise the opening of negotiations between the Community and its Member States , and the Republic of South Africa in order to revise the Agreement on Trade, Development and Cooperation between the European Community and its Member States , of the one part, and the Republic of South Africa , of the other part
From ACP-EU News Providers:
* German Presidency to focus on trade
Hugh Williamson, Financial Times, 14 December 2006
Germany intends to use its European Union presidency from January 1 to give a strong voice to developing countries battling with the European Commission over new trade agreements.
For the first time in the EU's history, Germany will invite ministers from developing countries to the six-monthly meeting of EU development ministers, to be held in Bonn in March. Germany hopes for a breakthrough in negotiations between the European Commission and some 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, over economic partnership agreements that need to be signed by the end of next year. Hugh Williamson, Berlin
* SA fends off EU deals for Sacu partners
Siseko Njobeni, BusinessDay , South Africa , 13 December 2006
SA IS resisting European Union (EU) efforts to treat it differently from its southern African neighbours — a move which could result in the country getting less market access for its exports. This comes after the EU made a proposal that would see the union applying higher tariffs to South African exports compared with those from other Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) members. SA's competitiveness was behind the EU's move to grant the country's exports less market access than its neighbours, according to a Financial Times report.
[click here to read more]
* Pretoria rails at Brussels over trade proposals
Andrew Bounds, Financial Times, 12 December 2006
South Africa is the latest developing country to trade blows with the European Union over a new generation of trade deals.
Its says the bloc's public claims that it wants poor developing countries to build strong regional markets are belied by proposals to treat Pretoria differently to its neighbours because it is more competitive.
The European Commission, the EU executive, has called for South Africa, which has a bilateral trade deal with the bloc, to be granted less market access than some of its neighbours "due to competitiveness, especially in agriculture", confidential documents obtained by the Financial Times show.
[click here to read more]
* Panama and US go bananas at WTO
Stuff.co.nz , New Zealand , 12 December 2006
Panama and the United States have complained at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the European Union's import duty for bananas to support Ecuador in a similar complaint, an industry source said. " Panama and the US have filed today as third parties to the Ecuador case," the source said. Last month, Ecuador – the world's largest banana exporter – launched its own challenge against Brussels over the EU's single tariff of 176 euros ($NZ344.82) a tonne, in force since January 2006, saying it was far too high.
It was quickly joined by neighbouring Colombia , the second largest Latin American banana supplier to Europe after Ecuador .
[click here to read more]
* Analysis of Caribbean-EC EPA negotiations: EPA Phase IV launched
David Jessop, This Week in Europe , The Caribbean Council, 11 December 2006
Confidence, mutual trust and shared ambition are three of the vital signs that a trade negotiation has to have if there is to be a successful outcome. They go hand in hand with the political will to deliver whatever is agreed. For much of the time during the most recent Ministerial round of negotiations for a Caribbean Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) all three were missing. For a day and a half on November 29 and 30 Caribbean Ministers met with Europe 's Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson to review progress on the just ended third phase of the negotiations. Their encounter followed two days of technical exchanges led by principal negotiators for the Caribbean and the European Commission.
[click here to read more]
* EU pushes Africa to liberalise trade
Larry Elliott and Angela Balakrishnan, Guardian Unlimited, 7 December 2006
The European Union is insisting that some of Africa 's poorest countries accept liberalisation of services, investment and competition policy as the price of better access to the world's richest market, it emerged tonight.
Under proposals being discussed in Brussels tomorrow, the European commission will say that unless the developing nations accept changes in sectors deemed too sensitive to be included in global trade talks, they will be denied better market access for their exports.
Aid agencies said a document, seen by the Guardian, outlining the proposed tough negotiating stance over an economic partnership area with South Africa and seven other countries in sub-Saharan Africa amounted to "bribery".
[click here to read more]
* WTO talks may resume in January
Amiti Sen, The Economic Times, New Delhi , India , 6 December 2006
The suspended multilateral trade negotiations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are likely to resume on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos , Switzerland , next month. While most trade ministers would be present at the WEF meeting and do not need a separate invitation, a formal invite has been sent to WTO director general Pascal Lamy by the organisers.
[click here to read more]
* ACP countries seek better sugar deal
Julius Mokaya, in Khartoum , Sudan , The Standard, Nairobi , Kenya , 5 December 2006
Kenya and other African, Caribbean and Pacific nations (ACP) have cried foul over plans by the European Union (EU) to slash prices of sugar imports in the next four years.
The ACP member states say they need more time and resources to reform their economies to effectively address the challenges of low international sugar prices.
[click here to read more]
* West Africa : ECOWAS Seeks Extension on EU Trade Deal
Elkanah Chawai, Daily Trust, Abuja , 4 December 2006
The realisation of a balanced trade between West Africa and Europe is gradually becoming distant as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is seeking an extension of the deadline to establish a free trade area between the European Union (EU) and the West African body.
The extension is being sought after by the regional ministerial committee monitoring the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two regions which last Thursday requested a three-year extension of the 2007 deadline for conclusion of negotiations for a free trade area, a statement from ECOWAS Secretariat stated over the weekend.
[click here to read more]
* Burundi and Rwanda are now granted full membership to the EAC
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, 1 December 2006
The 8th Summit of the East African Community Heads of State under the chairmanship of President Mwai Kibaki has granted full East African Community membership to Burundi and Rwanda . The summit directed the East African Community Secretariat to work out with the two new member states the smooth operationalization of its membership accession noting that the admission will be effective from 1st July 2007 .
[click here to read more]
* Africans threaten to quit EU trade talks
Stewart Fleming, EuropeanVoice.com, 30 November 2006
East and central African countries are warning that they are not prepared to continue negotiations with the European Commission aimed at establishing new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the EU until development issues are given a higher priority, according to an official close to the talks.
[click here to read more]
* ACP Lawmakers unhappy with EPA talks, as Brussels turns down explicit aid link
Bridges Weekly, Volume 10, Number 40, 29 November 2006
Economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations were high on the agenda at a meeting of lawmakers from the European Parliament and African, Caribbean , and Pacific (ACP) countries in Barbados from 20-23 November. Meanwhile, leaked documents suggest that Brussels is rejecting ACP demands to include detailed aid promises in the text of a future EPA accord.
[click here to read more]
* Council authorises opening of negotiations with South Africa on revision of the TDCA
(Press Release 2766th Council Meeting - Economic and Financial Affairs, Brussels 28 November 2006)
"The Council adopted a decision authorising the opening of negotiations with South Africa on revision of the EU-South Africa agreement on trade, development and cooperation, as well as a decision giving guidance to the Commission for the conduct of the negotiations."
See the Communication from the Commission to the Council - Communication to modify the directives for the negotiations of economic partnership agreements with ACP countries and regions EN
FR
* Africa : Implement Policies to Strenghten Supply Capacity
Nathaniel Yankson, Ghanaian Chronicle, Accra , 28 November 2006
THE HON. Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu has indicated that while the EU would be prepared to further open up its market for Africa , Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries' products and to tackle other trade barriers, "we on our part are expected to implement policies to strengthen our supply capacity and reduce transaction costs".
[click here to read more]
* EPA Adjustment Facility being deliberated
The Barbados Advocate, 27 November 2006
According to Chair of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP) Ministerial Trade Committee, Dame Billie Miller, the set-up of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Adjustment Facility was being considered. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said this was necessary when reflecting upon lengthy European Development Fund (EDF) procedures and the Commission's inability to respond rapidly to EPA-related projects.
[click here to read more]
See also acp-eu-trade.org's News section, updated every week!
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Selection from www.acp-eu-trade.org's Library
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* Slamming the door on development. Analysis of the EU's response to the Pacific's EPA negotiating proposals
Oxfam Background Paper - Oxfam International, December 2006
On 28 November an article was published in the Financial Times, based on a letter leaked from the EC, which handles the negotiations on behalf of the EU member states. The letter, dated 20 October 2006 , is signed jointly by the European Commission's Deputy Director for Trade, Karl Falkenberg and the Director General for Development, Stefano Manservisi. It sets out the EU's response to the Pacific's EPA text. This letter offers tangible evidence of what is happening behind the scenes in negotiations. The letter shows that the EU has rejected almost all of the attempts by Pacific governments to make the EPA a developmentally-sound agreement. This document gives an overview of the EU's response, supplemented with analysis of the recent (also leaked) draft EU proposal for trade in services.
* Leaked letter from the EC's Falkenberg and Manservisi to Tavola on Pacific EPA
Bilaterals.org, 5 December 2006
Letter leaked to the Financial Times outlining the European Commission's response to the Pacific's proposals on their EPA, rejecting most of them.
See original Financial Times article: Brussels rejects moves to link trade with aid
Response from the Commission: EU is aiming to use trade to back development
Response to the Commission from Glenys Kinnock, MEP, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly: Aid support for ACP is recycled and relabelled
And analysis by Dirk Willem te Velde (ODI): EU must have mechanisms in place for extra ACP aid”
* Delivering the goods: Challenges for ACP-EU relations in 2007
James Mackie, Julia Zinke, ECDPM InBrief 17, December 2006
This InBrief seeks to identify some of the headline debates that can be expected in 2007 and to sketch the backdrop against which these will unfold. The aim is not so much to predict outcomes, but to situate and frame the EU debates on development cooperation so as to enable as wide a group of stakeholders as possible to follow and participate in them.
* Overview of Regional EPA Negotiations InBrief Series for 2006-2008
ECDPM InBrief Series 14
The purpose of this InBrief series is to allow a wide range of ACP and EU stakeholders to have a clear overview on the structure, phasing, key challenges and main developments in the negotiations of economic partnership agreement (EPA) by each of the six ACP negotiating regions: the Caribbean, West Africa, Central Africa, East and Southern Africa, Southern Africa and the Pacific. For each ACP EPA regional grouping, reference is made to other international trade negotiations and their regional economic integration processes. In addition, each InBrief will be complemented by a regular Update that summarises the current state of negotiations.
EN FR
* Creating Development Friendly Rules of Origin in the EU - Final Report
Jane Kennan, Christopher Stevens, Michael Gasiorek, Jedrzej Chwiejczak, ODI, November 2006
This report summarises the findings from a study, funded by the Netherlands Ministry for Development Cooperation, on how the current review of the EU rules of origin can be used to benefit developing countries and, in particular, the least developed.1 The study provides two closely related perspectives on the subject. One analyses specific trade flows and industries; the other is a formal modelling exercise.
See also ODI's Briefing Paper on the same issue “The EU Commission argues that radical changes to the origin rules will both simplify processes and make them more development friendly. Will they?”
* Sustainable Development and Regional Trade Agreements – building sustainable development issues into Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) - Final Report and executive summary
Technical Report issued on the 27 November 2006 - European Commission Regional Workshop on "Sustainable Development and Regional Trade Agreements": Caribbean Workshop on building sustainable development issues into Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), Montego Bay, July 24-25 2006
The challenge of the workshop was to consider how to make use of the opportunity presented by the negotiation of the EPA between the Caribbean region and the European Union (EU) to help achieve sustainable development in the Caribbean region. The backdrop to this challenge is the clear mandate in the Cotonou Agreement to do so, and the repeated assurances that the EPAs would represent a “different kind of trade agreement” — one focused on the Cotonou Agreement's sustainable development objectives. Another framing consideration was the strongly delivered reminder that sustainable development represents more than just environmental concerns; it must also address development issues.
Executive summary
* Promoting Agricultural Trade and Investment Synergies between South Africa and Other SADC Member Countries
Ron Sandrey, N Vink, CL McCarthy, HE Zunckel, tralac Working Paper No.20/2006 - November 2006
This paper describes a three-pronged analysis. The first illustrates agricultural production patterns in the region. The second maps trade flows within SADC and between SADC countries and the rest of the world, and includes a review of trade agreements and the existing trade modelling debate as relevant to the SADC region. Reference is made to the nature and status of South Africa 's trade agreements both regionally and with other parts of the world. The third tracks investment flows within SADC and between SADC countries and the rest of the world. Based upon this groundwork, the paper then probes: How the trade and investment patterns impact on agricultural and agri-business development; How SADC members can benefit from the opportunities, and mitigate costs, offered by trade and investment flows with South Africa ; and, The role that regional institutions play in trade and investment policy.
* The Pacific Plan for strenghtening regional cooperation and integration (revised version)
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, November 2006
The Pacific Plan was endorsed by Leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in October 2005. It is a ‘living' document ensuring flexibility so that the Vision of the Leaders and the goal of regional integration extend far into the future. This revised version of the Pacific Plan follows decisions taken by Leaders at the Forum meeting in October 2006 where they welcomed the considerable progress made in implementing the Pacific Plan, noted the key challenges that need to be overcome in order for the Plan to continue to be effectively implemented, and agreed on a number of key commitments in order to move the Plan forward.
* The EU-Africa business forum - Working Group - Challenges and opportunities of economic partnership agreements
November 6, 2006 - Discussion paper based on private sector inputs
To enable informed debate, a preparatory consultative work has been facilitated by the BizClim facility in the context of the EU-Africa Business Forum meeting. The present publication summarises the discussions that have taken place on the on-line discussion boards and brings together various communications between the respective parties a propos “Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Partnership Agreements”. This document assimilates preliminary inputs from various contributors to the EU-Africa Business Forum and brings them together as a whole. As a “discussion paper”, the aim is to establish a foundation for private sector dialogue at the upcoming EU-Africa Business Forum, which took place on 16-17 November 2006. This document aims to present a critical but balanced view of private sector positions. The document is a “private sector discussion paper”.
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Resources from Recent Events
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* Event: 5 th ACP Summit of Heads of States and Government
Date: December 7-8, 2006
Resources:
->5 th ACP Summit Official Website: http://5thacpsummit.gov.sd/
->Press release: ACP Heads of State and Government renew their commitments to sustainable development for their countries
->Articles in the press:
Africa : ACP Calls for More Development Aid From EU
ACP states bemoan lack of progress in EU trade talks
Sudanese president to head ACP nations
Trade Agreements, Darfur in the Spotlight at ACP Gathering / Sudan urges solidarity as ACP summit opens
Sudan calls for unity, support
ACP Nations Opt for Trade on Their Terms
ACP Summit: Old Trade Beefs to resurface in Khartoum
* Event: 84 th Meeting of the ACP Council of Ministers
Date: December 3-5, 2006
Resources
->Decisions, Resolutions and Declaration of the 84 th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers EN FR
->Press release EN FR
->ACP Press' blog in preparation of the Ministerial meeting (with posts in English and in French) : http://sommetacp.blogspot.com/
->Articles in the press:
Africa : ACP Ministers in Pessimistic Mood
Africa : ACP States Feeling the Pinch of 2007 Trade Deadline
Southern Africa : EU Urged to Delay Move On Subsidies
* Event: African Private Sector Forum
Date: November 28-30, 2006
Resources
->Website
-> Presentations:
Supporting SMEs Development and the role of Microfinance in Africa , bu INAFI Africa Trust
Empowering the African Private Sector and Promoting Made in Africa : The Role of African Women Entrepreneurs and the informal sector, by Mrs Lucia Akosua Quachey
* Event: Making Trade Work for Women
Date: November 27, 2006
Resources:
See Oneworld's website for background information to the meeting, full report and country/sector studies
* Event: Meeting of CEMAC trade and development ministers with the European Commission EN FR
Date: November 24, 2006
At a meeting on 24 November in Yaounde , Cameroon , trade and development Ministers from CEMAC countries met with officials from the European Commission to continue negotiations around an Economic Partnership Agreement between the two blocs. The event was preceded by a meeting of CEMAC ministers on 22 November. They agreed on a Declaration underlining the central concerns of the region on both trade and European development assistance. ILEAP's Executive Director provided support to the process.
The following documents are available in French only:
Resources:
-> Rencontre entre Ministres charges des negociations de l'APE, Ministres Ordonnateurs Nationaux du FED de l'Afrique centrale et Representants de la Commission et des Etats membres de l'UE
-> Declaration conjointe des Ministres en charge de l'APE et des Ministres Ordonnateurs Nationaux du FED de l'Afrique centrale
* Event: “Parliamentary Partnership for Africa 's Economic Development in the framework of NEPAD and the MDGs”,
Organised by AWEPA, European Parliamentarians for Africa
Date: November 23-24, 2006
Resources
AWEPA's webpage on the seminar
Programme
Recommendations for Parliamentary Action
Presentations
* Event: 12 th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
Date: November 18-23, 2006
Resources
-> Resolution on the review of negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) EN FR
->See other resolutions on Water, Arms and Tourism here EN FR
->Website with oral questions to the Council, oral questions to the Commission and replies given by the Commission, follow-up given by the Commission to the Resolutions adopted in Vienna, minutes, press releases, speeches, workshops and fact-finding missions here: EN FR
-> See also from our News section
->Workshop report “Is it possible to negotiate development agreements between the EU and the ACP regions?" By the ACP farmers network
->Articles in the press:
Amazing ACP/EU meeting
“Deepen ACP/EU bond”
Dame Billie calls for EPA “fix”
“Give us more time!”
* Upcoming Event: German Presidency of the European Union
Date: First half of 2007
The website of the German presidency of the European Union: http://www.eu2007.de
->EPAs a priority of the forthcoming German EU presidency
The German EU Presidency has set an ambitious agenda aiming at the “successful conclusion of the EPA negotiations within the set timetable”; arguing that otherwise the risk of opening up the EU markets to India , China , Brazil and others will be detrimental to ACP interests. More (in German)
Check our website for more events and resources! http://www.acp-eu-trade.org
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Copyright: ECDPM 2006