Trade Negotiations Insights

A joint ECDPM and ICTSD monthly publication on the major issues faced by African and ACP countries in their international trade negotiations at the WTO and with the EU in the context of the Cotonou Agreement

Egalement disponible en francais

Vol.9, No.2, March 2010

• Coordinating EU Trade and development policy-making in a new context (D.Makhan)
• Creating a pro-development EU trade policy in a post-prefrence world (European Think Tanks Group)
• Aid for Trade - an opportunity for re-thinking aid for economic growth (M.Bruntrup and P.Voionmaa)
• The Vulnerability Flex Mechanism: A success story? (M.Dalleau)
• EU support to regional integration in Africa: A shared Vision (Lodewijk Briet)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.9, No.1, February 2010

• Environmental provisions in Economic Partnership Agreements: Implications for developing countries (B.Chaytor)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• EPA Services Negotiations – An ESA Perspective (N.Boodhoo)
• Ensuring flexibility : A survey of safeguard measures in regional and bilateral trade agreements (W.Denner)
• Updating the Economic Partnership Agreements to match today’s global challenges (D.F. Martí)
• Facing European Community technical barriers to trade: What options for ACP countries? (A.Bassilekin)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.10, December 2009 January 2010

• Aid for trade and climate change financing mechanisms: Maximizing Benefits from Complementarities (V D Ancharaz)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• Trade,climate change and agriculture: Towards a low-carbon future (J Keane)
• Trade, tourism and climate change: Responding to the ecological and regulatory challenges (K Nurse)
• Trade, climate change and fisheries: Building resilience through trade-policy reform (P Ghisu)
• Energy poverty, renewable energies and the Economic Partnership Agreements
• (S Karekezi, J Kimani,and O Onguru)
• Standard as protectionist device: the EU Renewable Energy Directive (F Erixon)
• The Treaty of Lisbon: Implications for EU Trade Policy (S Woolcock)
• Free-trade agreements: the other side of liberalization - What is developing countries’ room to manoeuvre? (D Lagandré, JP Rolland and A Alpha)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.9, November 2009

• From Market Access to Accessing the Market : Aid for Trade and the Program of the World Bank (Elisa Gamberoni and Richard Newfarmer)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• The Lisbon Treaty - Implications for Europe’s International Investment Agreements (Damon Vis-Dunbar)
• Ensuring flexibility: A survey of safeguard measures in regional and bilateral trade agreements (Willemien Denner)
• Duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for Caribbean rice exports: a necessary but insufficient step forward (Solène Sureau)
• Monitoring regional integration in the ACP: The case for a coordinated approach (Jean-Michel Salmon)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.8, October 2009

• The Lisbon Treaty – Implications for ACP-EU Relations (Eleonora Koeb)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• Services and EPA: A Difficult but Vital Relationship (Fabien Gehl)
• Bananas, Economic Partnership Agreements,and the WTO (Giovanni Anania)
• Some Lessons of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA (Norman Girvan)
• Specialty Food Products from Southern Africa: Aid that views Africa as a Commercial Partner (Amanda Hilligas)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.7, September 2009

• Launching the COMESA Customs Union: The Secretary General Talks (Interview with TNI)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• They Want to Silence Us: The Impact of Governance on Trade and Rural Development in Cameroon (Jacob Kotcho)
• The ACP Advantage: Interpreting GATT Article XXIV and Market Access: plications for EPAs (El Hadji A. Diouf)
• After the Sugar Protocol (Patricia Garcia-Duran, Elisa Casanova and Montserrat Millet)
• Shortfalls and Opportunities: The Implementation of the Africa-EU Trade, Regional Integration and Infrastructure Partnership (Veronika Tywuschik and Stéphanie Colin)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.6, July-August 2009

• The EC-SADC EPA: The Moment of Truth for Regional Integration (Aurelie Walker)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• The Future of the Southern African Customs Union (Peter Draper and Nkululeko Khumalo)
• Tracing the Special and Differential Treatment principle through the CARIFORUM EPA (Alisa Dicaprio and Silke Trommer)
• Protected Geographical Indications for ACP Countries: A Solution or a Mirage? (Vincent Fautrel, Solene Sureau, Marie-Cecile Thirion, and Massimo Vittori)
• Stimulating an Island Nation: The Logic behind Mauritius’ Additional Stimulus Package (Raj Makoond)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.5, June 2009

• Putting Substance into PACER Plus (Pacific Institute of Public Policy)
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• The ECOWAS EPA: A ‘Funeral Oration’ to Regional Integration ? (Ken Ukaoha)
• Africa and the Economic Crisis: The Case for Greater Flexibility in EPAs (Emily Jones)
• Private Sector Participation in Aid for Trade: Breaking Barriers to Private Sector Growth (Trevor Simumba)
• The Union for the Mediterranean: Progress,Difficulties and Way Forward (Stéphanie Colin)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.4, May 2009

• ‘Delivering the goods’on Aid for Trade: A TNI interview with the UK Minister for Trade and Development Gareth Thomas
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• Was the G20 London Summit a success? (Augusto López-Claros)
• The financial crisis and Africa: Monitoring the effects, policy responses and new development models
• Dealing with global governance deficits and the MDGS: a trade agenda for G20 leaders (Eveline Herfkens)
• EPA Provisions may impact the ability of some developing countries to respond to the crisis (Sanya Reid Smith)
• EPAs and natural resources: The European sustainability agenda (Peter Thompson)
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.3, April 2009

• The G20 agenda and the road ahead: A view from Africa. Interview with Alan Hirsch
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• Africa, trade, and the crisis: A stimulus package for Africa
• Pacific lessons from the Economic Partnership Agreement
• Regionally owned funds: A realistic way to improve Aid for Trade delivery in the ACP?
• Overseas Countries and Territories: Caught between a rock and a hard place
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.2, March 2009

• Commission to Authority: Shifting the African Union balance of power
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• The EU’s cock-eyed approach to trade and governance
• Predicting Obama’s Africa policy: The proof of the pudding is in the eating
• Why EPA negotiations have slowed: The Central African perspective
• EPA negotiations with Central Africa: The state of play
• EPA General Exceptions undermine WTO negotiations on commodities
• Building bridges: Supporting services negotiations in the East African EPA
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.8, No.1, February 2009

• Replace controversy with debate, says Ashton : A TNI exclusive interview with Baroness Catherine Ashton
• Editorial & News and publications In brief
• 2009: EPAs at the crossroads
• A unilateral perspective on an international concern : A look at the EU’s IUU regulation
• The cultural sector and the EPAs: 1) As EPA ink dries : What’s next for our creative sectors in the Caribbean? 2)Expanding trade flows of cultural goods and services
• Undercutting Africa : Why EPAs threaten the world’s forests and forest peoples
• A perfect storm : Ensuring trade promotes resiliency and adaption against climate change threats
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.10, December 2008-January 2009

• Surveying progress: An African perspective on EPA negotiations
• Editorial: The year ahead
• Sub-Saharan Africa and the global financial crisis
• Is SPS the silver lining? Economic Partnership Agreements
• Preferential Rules of Origin in Economic Partnership Agreements: Key features and changes
• Investing in East Africa: The role of negotiations in the EAC-EU EPA
• Turning mode 4 commitments into business: The CARIFORUM–European Community EPA
• Integrating into the global economy
• WTO roundup
• EPA update
• Calendar and resources

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

Vol.7, No.8, October 2008

• To sign or not to sign? The Caribbean dilemma
• CARIFORUM’S decision to sign the EPA
• Breaking the mould:Guyana and a ‘goods only’ Caribbean EPA
• A ‘Green Revolution’ for Africa
• Responding to Africa’s agricultural challenges:the need for new paradigms in aid, trade and science
• Implications of the CARIFORUM EPA provisions on trade in services: recommendations for Southern Africa
• EU banana dispute:a view from Costa Rica
• The 2010 revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.7, September 2008

• Getting over those Doha blues
• Banana peace slips through fingers
• Bananas in the Doha Round
• The EU’s General System of Preferences - (to be) continued
• The CARIFORUM EPA and beyond: recommendations for negotiations on services and trade related issues
• Policy space vs. policy lock-in: public procurement in the CARIFORUM EPA AfT: supporting ACP efforts in regional economic integration and EPA implementation
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.6, July-August 2008

• What if politics finally got involved with world affairs? The Taubira report on EPAs
• Checking the system: a review of trade preferences
• Negotiating Caribbean IP rights: a question of balancing national policy priorities with foreign trade policy?
• EPAs: what is at stake for agriculture and development in Central Africa?
• The Growth Report: the momentum of Africa
• The quest for answers: food and energy security
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.5, June 2008

• Glass half empty or half full? The move towards a comprehensive EPA
• Aid for Trade in the agricultural sector: reflections on a fruitful dialogue
• Aid for Trade: key issues in the ACP agricultural sector
• Trade and innovation in the EPAs: another step towards re-framing TRIPS
• Rules of origin for fish in interim EPAs
• In focus: Understanding Kenya: post-election crisis, land and the interim EPA
• Monitoring and evaluating the EPA in Mauritius: setting up mechanisms
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.4, May 2008

• Bridging the divide: the SADC EPA
• Partnership or power play? EPAs fail the development tests
• In Focus: Building an EPA services deal: an important tool for services development in the Comoros
• EPA stocktaking: urgency for a development contest
• MFN in the Cariforum EPA is no threat to South-South trade
• ECOWAS CET: the imperatives of Nigeria's fifth band
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol.7, No.3, April 2008

• Interim EPAs in Africa: What's in them? And what's next?
• The legal status of the initialled EPAs
• Accommodating regional realities: practical issues and challenges for the SADC EPA negotiations
• In focus: Renegotiate the Cariforum EPA
• LDCs rising: the growth of technical capacity
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update

Vol.7, No.2, March 2008

• MFN provisions in the EPAs: a threat to South-South trade?
• Nigerian cocoa processors to lose millions
• The trials and tribulations of Nigerian cocoa processors
• The EAC interim agreement: an overview
• Uganda's EPA: getting the process 'right'
• The EAC interim EPA and Rwanda
• Action stations: advancing a pro-poor services agenda in trade negotiations in 2008
• GI rules: potential and implications for African countries
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.7, No.1, February 2008

• EPA deals as stepping stones or stumbling blocks?
• An interview with DG Development Commissioner Louis Michel
• CARIFORUM EPA negotiations: an initial reflection
• Lessons Learned: the Caribbean EPA market access offer
• The usual last-minute banana peels
• An interview with Sir John Kaputin: Secretary General of the ACP Group
• Public procurement and EPAs
• ACP farmers’ organisations and EPAs: from a whisper to a roar in two short years
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol.6, No.8, December 2007 - January 2008

• Good from far
• Peter Mandelson on the 'end' of the EPA negotiations
• Pacific
• Eastern and Southern Africa
• Southern Africa
• Central Africa
• West Africa
• Caribbean
• ACP and EPAs: Where's the beef?
• In focus: New Aid for Trade Strategy: a window of opportunity
• Economic growth in Africa: will EPAs help or hinder?
• Multilateralism, regionalism and bilateralism in trade and investment. The launch of the first World report on Regional integration
• EPAs and the EU-Africa Strategy: (in)coherence?
• Overview of EPAs initialled
• WTO Roundup
• Calendar and Resources

Vol.6, No.7, November 2007

• EU offers ACP 'two-step' EPAs. Where does development stand?
• Playing poker with livelihoods
• The EPAs: is it really do or die?
• Agricultural safeguard measures in the EPAs
• Namibia's beef with the EPAs
• Aid for trade and Africa
• In focus: Rules of origin. The case for a single set of criteria
• One last call to arms
• WTO Roundup
• EPA negotiations update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.6, No. 6, October 2007

• EPAs: Vision, faith or blindness?
• EU-ACP sugar trade and the EPAs: taking the sweet with the sour
• An interview with: Arvin Boolell, Mariann Fischer Boel
• In Focus: sensitive and special products
• Don’t sign the EPAs: civil society condemns fruitless deals
• UNCTAD warns developing countries on FTAs
• Can EPAs improve governance in ACP countries?
• IPRs: elements for consideration
• ACP must push for Plan B
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & resources

Vol.6, No. 5, September 2007

• EPAs: There is no Plan B - An interview with Peter Mandelson
• Monitoring EPAs: the need to engage
• Sink or Swim? EU investments in ACP fisheries
• The case for Development Benchmarks
• In focus: Trade in services - A threat to intra-regional trade
• In focus: Trade in services - A recipe for sustainable development
• EU, Pacific clash over EPA funds
• Pacific, EU aid dispute: the link between aid and EPAs
• WTO Roundup
• EPA Negotiations Update (for a more detailed version see www.acp-eu-trade.org/epaupdate)
• Calendar & resources

Vol.6, No. 4, July-August 2007

• EPAs: entering the danger zone
• Agreeing EPA rules of origin: a strategy unfolds
• Difficult deadline: challenges of the SADC EPA negotiations
• The complexities of negotiating a West Africa EPA
• EPA negotiations update
• Calendar & Publications

Vol.6, No. 3, May-June 2007

• New chapters in EU banana dispute underway as EPA negotiations speed up
• EU-ACP Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Economic Partnership Agreements: Twelve Summary Recommendations
• Implementing competition provisions in Regional Trade Agreements: Is it possible to assure developmental gains?
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and resources

Vol.6, No. 2, March-April 2007

• Assessing Preferential Trade Agreements using the Sussex Framework
• Continental Review of the EPA Negotiations: a Survey of African Countries
• Equity in Trade Negotiations: a Gender Review of the EPAs
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol.6, No.1, January-February 2007

• Farmers' organisations conduct EPA mid-term review: the case of West Africa
• Aid for Trade as adjustment support or political compensation: Lessons from the BLNS
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol. 5, No. 6, November-December 2006

• EU commitments on Aid for Trade and EPAs
• How to deliver on EPA-related support commitments?
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 5, No. 5, September - October 2006

• Suspended Reality: Key Issues for the ACP after the WTO Impasse
• Suspension of Doha Round and EPAs: the case of Aid for Trade
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol. 5, No. 4, July - August 2006

• ACP-EU Fisheries relations: Who will pay? Who will benefit?
• Beyond AGOA to a US-Africa Partnership?
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol. 5, No. 3, May-June 2006

• Life in the Merry-Go-Doha-Round: Perspectives from a Least Developed Country
• The Institutional Challenge of EPAs
• TNI EPA Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol.5, No. 2, March-April 2006

• Doha negotiations post Hong Kong: Some relevant developments for the ACP
• Financing EPAs
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol.5, No. 1, January- February 2006

• Reviewing EPAs negotiations and alternative scenarios
• Aid for Trade and Capacity building: the case of SPS standards and developing countries
• EPA negotiations update
• WTO Hong Kong deal: What is in it for the ACP group?

Vol.4, No.6, November-December 2005

• The Development Dimensions of EPAs and International Aid for Trade
• The WTO and EPA Negotiations on Agriculture: for Better Coordination of ACP Positions
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol.4, No.5, September-October 2005

• WTO Negotiations in the Lead-Up to Hong Kong: ACP Priorities and Challenges
• The Economic and Welfare Impacts of the EU-Africa Economic Partnership Agreements
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar & Resources

Vol.4, No.4, July-August 2005

• Benchmarks for a pro-development monitoring of EPA negotiations
• The GSP: a solution to the problem of Cotonou and EPAs?
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 4, No. 3, May-June 2005

• Negotiating the trade and development dimensions of EPAs - A way forward
• Commodity Protocolas, the WTO and EPAs
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 4, Issue No.2, March 2005

• Why the European Commission is Wrong about EPAs
• Sharing Information: A Survival Tool for EPA Negotiations
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 4, Issue No.1, January 2005

• The TDCA: perspectives for EU-South and Southern Africa relations
• Preference dependant economies and multilateral liberalization: impacts and options
• EPA Negotiations update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 3, Issue No.6, November 2004

• Textiles and Clothing Trade: What Perspectives for Africa?
• Pacific ACP States - EC Launch EPA Negotiations
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 3, Issue No.5, September 2004

• The WTO July Package: A Step Forward but a Long Road Ahead
• Recent WTO Dispute Settlement Cases: Some Considerations for the ACP
• EPA Negotiations Update

Vol. 3, Issue No.4, July 2004

• EPAs and DDA - Parallelism or Crossroads?
• Negotiating EPAs between African Sub-regions and the EU: Some Concrete Suggestions on Market Access
• Funding Propsects for EPAs: mid-term reviews and availability of resources
• EPA Negotiations Update: State of Play of the Negotiations

Vol. 3, Issue No.3, May 2004

• Launch of CARIFORUM–EC Negotiations of an Economic Partnership Agreement
• Special and Differential Treatment in Post-Cotonou Services Negotiations
• EPA Negotiations Update: State of Play of the Negotiations
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 3, Issue No.2, March 2004

• Perspectives for EPA Negotiations - Challenges for the Eastern and Southern Africa Region
• Perspectives for EPA Negotiations - SADC under Pressure
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 3, Issue No.1, January 2004

• The Journey from Cotonou to Cancun, and beyond: the changing dynamics of WTO and EPA negotiations
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 2, Issue No.4, August 2003

• African Countries Gear Up for the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference
• Are ECOWAS and CEMAC ready to negotiate their EPA?
• EPA Negotiations Update
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 2, Issue No.3, June 2003

• The Survival of African Cotton Between Negotiation and Dispute at the WTO
• Preparing for EPA negotiations: What Role for Sustainability Impact Assessments?
• EPA Negotiations Update: State of Play of the Negotiations
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 2, Issue No.2, April 2003

• Food Safety, the SPS Agreement and EPA Negotiations
• The WTO Agriculture modalities Negotiations: Anticipating the Outcomes of Future EPAs?
• EPA Negotiations Update - State of Play of the Negotiations
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 2, Issue No.1, February 2003

• Beyond Lomé: Challenges and Prospects for ACP Countries
• EPA Negotiations Update: Overview of the Process and State of Play
• Dispute Resolution Under the ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement: A Need for Reform?
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 1, Issue No.4, December 2002

• CAP Reform and ACP Preferences: What is at Stake for ACP Countries?
• Services Negotiations Under the Cotonou Agreement: The Scope for Liberalisation
• WTO Compatibility of EPAs
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 1, Issue No.3, September 2002

• Urgent Preparation Needed to Negotiate Economic Partnership Agreements
• Challenges Facing the Caribbean During EPA Negotiations
• Special And Differential Treatment at the WTO And Its Relevance for the ACP-EU Negotiations
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 1, Issue No.2, June 2002

• Questions Raised by the Proposed EC Negotiating Mandate
• EU/ACP Negotiations and the Agriculture Negotiations under the Doha Mandate
• Special and Differential Treatment in WTO Rules in the Context of the ACP/EU Economic Partnership Agreements
• Calendar and Resources

Vol. 1, Issue No.1, February 2002

• The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health: Does it change anything?
• WTO Negotiations on Implementation Issues: How, Where & When?
• Who will Negotiate with the EU? In Search o an ACP-EU Negotiating Framework
• Calendar and Resources