ACP in solidarity with Pacific concern over lack of EU Economic Partnership Agreements [1]
Thursday, June 14, 2012 - 17:17. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
By Linny Folau
The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group has responded in solidarity to the concern and frustration voiced by its Pacific member states over an apparent lack of commitment from the European Union to conclude comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements.
The Secretary General of ACP, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas in a press conference to conclude the 95th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers Meeting on June 13, said the ACP group completely expressed their solidarity with the Pacific region on their concerns.
He said the Pacific states had made their proposals to EPAs as far back as in 2009, and so far they had not received satisfactory responses. "From this side what I can say is that the ball is in the European Commission’s court and I hope the EU can come up with responses to the proposals put forth by the Pacific states," he said.
Dr Mohamed said the ACP Council of Ministers Meeting had also adopted a resolution under EPAs which included the Pacific’s concerns. "So we are hoping that after the meetings, the EU will do well and come with clear timetable for the negotiation to move forward with the EPA discussions with the Pacific states, he said.
The growing frustration on the Pacific side was understood, he said, because they had made proposals to EPAs and they felt there had not been sufficient response from the EU side.
"We completely express our solidarity as a group with the Pacific region," he said.
Dr Mohamed said the contentious issues that the Pacific faced in regards to the agreement were similar, including market access, development dimension and regional integration. "The two main objectives of EPAs are to develop a friendly agreement that will stimulate development within the various regions and reinforce ongoing process of regional integration," he said.
Tonga is part of the Pacific regional approach to EPAs and it advocates what was voiced by Hon ‘Isileli Pulu, the lead spokesperson for the Pacific-ACP during the council meeting.
From left, Josephine Sanft ACP Press Attache, President of the ACP Council of Ministers and ACP Secretary General Dr Mohamed at a press conference held at Le Lagoon Resort, Vanuatu.
Concerns
The President of the ACP Council of Ministers Mr Alva Baptiste the Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of St Lucia, said in regards to EPAs with EU the negotiations had not been finalized.
He said that despite the challenges they remained committed to concluding negotiations.
"But we cannot emphasise enough the need to firmly place development in the heart of our agenda until contentious issues are addressed, so it is difficult for our region to sign EPAs".
Flexibility
He said ACP continued to call for flexibility on their EU partners in attaining mutually agreed and beneficial agreements and asked that they reconsider withdrawing market access.
This would impose a unilateral deadline to conclude trade agreements, "putting pressure on the countries to sign EPAs without addressing areas that may threaten the stability of our countries' growth/ but through dialogue done in the spirit of partnership of the Cotonou Agreement, we can find a way out of this impasse," he said.
He said the issues of concerns to ACP states during the Council of Ministers meeting included the level of market liberlisation and currently the EU was calling for 80 percent of the market to be liberalized and that protection only be 20 percent.
"Obviously, it is a situation of a giant and a dwarf, and various countries in the ACP do not have the capacity to respond in the way the EU can enter," he said. There was a lingering concern to countries, that if they just opened up, then most of their own domestic industry may come under serious pressure to the extent that it may collapse.
He said another concern was export taxes and a lot of countries had vulnerable economies and had tax on exports, but the EU wanted that removed. However, those taxes provided an income stream into those countries that had already fragile and vulnerable economies.
"Infrastructure also poses a negative impact on exports and some of our countries are calling on EU to assist in addressing this to a better position to the EU, not to a playing level field but at least ACP countries can have a greater fighting chance so these are the challenges that continue to impart on the ACP," he said.
Negotiations
Despite the differences between ACP and the EU, ACP will continue to negotiate with patience and persistence with EU on EPAs until an agreement is reached because of the major disadvantages that could occur as a result if the ACP states agreed to what the EU would like to see.
He said the Council of Ministers concluded a successful meeting after three days of deliberations from June 11-13 and would release resolutions in the next few days.
ACP looked forward to entering into a fruitful dialogue with our European Partners over the next two days from June 14-15, said the President of the ACP Council of Ministers.