29 September 2007 - DR1 Daily News


The European Union and Caribbean countries are close to a new trade and investment deal, trade officials said on Friday.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson plans to meet trade ministers from the Caribbean region in Jamaica on Oct. 4 and 5, ahead of a possible final deal on Oct. 15, the officials from both sides of the talks said.

“The basic text of the agreement is all there and it’s fairly comprehensive,” a EU official said.

The EU has been negotiating the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) for five years with groups of mostly former European colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions.

Oxfam and other poverty campaign groups say the deals are damaging to the ACP countries and will expose their companies and farmers to fierce European competition.

Small protests took place in European and African cities on Thursday calling for the negotiations to be halted. Brussels argues the agreements will help the ACP states to develop their economies, many of which rely on basic commodity exports, and they will help foster regional markets attracting foreign investment.

The EU and the Caribbean countries have agreed on core issues, including investment and services, but the Caribbean states have yet to settle how quickly they will cut tariffs for trade among themselves and other items, the EU official said. Edwin Carrington, secretary general of the 15-member Caribbean Community (Caricom), said there were several outstanding issues.

One was trade between Caricom and the Dominican Republic, which is now linked into a free trade agreement between the United States and Central America known as DR-CAFTA.

“The key issue is trade liberalization for European goods coming into Cariforum,” Carrington said, referring to the negotiating group formed by Caricom and the Dominican Republic for the talks with Europe.

“But we are no less concerned about the treatment of our goods in the European market after Dec. 31. There is also the question of the development dimension of the EPA which is a matter of major concern for Cariforum countries.”

Progress has been slower in the EU’s negotiations with the other five ACP regions, which are mostly in Africa, and Brussels hopes a deal with the Caribbean could give them a boost.

“It will make a big difference to everybody’s ability to believe that we can actually do it, if we get an agreement,” the EU official said. The new agreements would replace existing preferential trade deals that the World Trade Organisation has ruled are illegal and must be scrapped by Dec. 31.

Mandelson has warned that without deals by then, the ACP countries will face higher EU import tariffs for their goods but denies criticism that he is seeking to strong-arm them. Reuters

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C09%5C29%5Cstory_29-9-2007_pg5_34