Statement
By
Secretary-General
of the ACP Group
On the
occasion of the launch of EPA negotiations for Eastern and
International Conference Centre
Grand
The Right Honourable
Prime Minister of the
The Commissioner for Trade of the
European Commission, Mr. Pascal Lamy,
Honourable Minister for Foreign
Affairs, International Trade and Regional Cooperation of the
Distinguished Secretary General of
COMESA,
Distinguished Secretary-General of the
East African Community,
The Director-Greneral for Development,
Your Excellencies,
Mr. Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please allow me, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister
to express my joy at being here in
Let me say how happy I am to be among
you this morning on the occasion of the launch of EPA negotiations for Eastern
and Southern Africa region and first negotiating session with the European
represented by Commissioner Pascal LAMY whom I would like to salute once again
for his constant commitment to the preservation and deepening of the ACP-EU
partnership.
Rt. Honourable Prime Minister, your offer to host this event is yet another
testimony of your country’s commitment to the promotion of the beneficial
cooperation between the ACP and the European Union. The ACP Group highly appreciates
this invariable commitment. In that regard I would like to pay tribute to the
inestimable contribution made by your representatives in the Committee of
Ambassador and Council of ministers in defining and defending the Group’s
positions.
Rt. Honourable Prime Minister,
ACP-EU Cooperation will soon enter a
new phase, with the conclusion and implementation of what you are about to
launch, namely the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). EPAs are expected to
act as instruments of sustainable development in ACP countries. They should end
up promoting sustained growth in
ACP States through the increase of the production and supply capacity, thereby
facilitating their integration into the global economy.
The ACP Group has decided that the EPAs
will be negotiated, in the second phase, by the regions which will ensure that
not only the unity and solidarity of the Group are preserved, but also that
within the regions and between them.
In achieving the above objectives, EPAs
are expected to build on and support the regional integration initiatives already
existing in the ACP Group. I would,
therefore like to take this opportunity to congratulate the ESA countries for
the important step they have taken to launch their negotiations of EPAs with
the EC at their regional level today.
In this regard, I am aware of the
difficulties that this region has gone through in coming up with an acceptable
configuration for negotiations. I am convinced that, although the configuration
retain does not coincide with the zone presently covered by the West and
Southern African Common Market, the negotiations of the region will be steered
by the principle whereby the EPAs must contribute to greater regional
integration eventually leading to a
beneficial trade liberalization with Europe and the rest of the world.
Fortunately, the initial focus on the road map
that has been proposed by the European Commission could address this concern.
The first priority in that road map would be to discuss with the region, its integration objectives and
priorities. This would allow joint action to be taken to consolidate the
regional integration process.
Rt. Honourable Prime Minister
Today’s launch is a culmination of
concerted efforts that the countries concerned have made in preparation for
this stage of negotiations. At the ACP level we have done all we could to
facilitate the launch of the regional phase of the negotiations.
Following signature of the Cotonou
Agreement in 2000, the ACP Group undertook various measures and conducted many
preparatory activities in order to be ready for the negotiations. Seminars were
held in all the ACP regions. Discussions took place with stakeholders - government officials responsible for
trade matters, officials of regional economic integration organizations, private
sector and civil society, without forgetting the Ministerial consultations.
These discussions centred on the
critical issues the ACP would be confronted with during the preparation for the
negotiations.
Studies were commissioned by the ACP
Secretariat to assess the compatibility of trade policies in the context of
current regional economic integration processes within the ACP. The studies
were also designed to assess the impact of EPAs on regional economic
integration and to forecast preliminary adjustment scenarios.
On the basis of inputs from seminars,
the studies and other consultations within the ACP Group, the ACP guidelines
for the negotiation of EPAs were developed by
the Council of Ministers in June 2002.
Rt Hon.Prime
Minister,
This preparatory process led to the
launching of the negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) at “all
ACP” level in
Spanning September to October 2003, the
first phase discussions enabled the parties to exchange views on different issues, namely, legal and procedural issues,
development aspects of EPAs, agriculture and fisheries agreements, services,
market access, and trade-related areas.
The discussions
have allowed each party to improve its understanding on the other’s positions.
However, since
not all the subjects discussed at the first phase were concluded
satisfactorily, and others were not dealt with at all, the ACP Council of
Ministers and the European Commission agreed that discussions at the all ACP
phase should continue in the context an ACP-EC Technical Monitoring Committee
and, if need be, at Ministerial level.
The
main purpose of this mechanism will be to ensure a free flow of information and
to promote dialogue between the different ACP regional groupings, on the one
hand, and between them and the EC, on the other. The Technical Monitoring
Committee will be composed of representatives of the different regional
groupings, the ACP Secretariat, the Troďka of the ACP
Committee of
The ACP Technical
Follow-up Group met two weeks ago. Besides the conclusions relating to its
operating procedures, the group recommended the examination at “All-ACP” level
with a view to mutual understanding of some issues such as:
-
costs of adjustment to take account f the impact of the
EPAs
-
trade-related issues
-
commodity protocols
-
rules of origin; and
-
dispute settlement and the non-execution clause.
Consultations are
underway with the European Commission to determine a date for the first meeting
of the ACP-EC Follow-Up Technical Committee.
Rt Hon. Prime
Minister,
The cooperation
between the ACP and the EC transcends trade issues into other areas such as
development finance and political dialogue. Trade can only be conducted in an
atmosphere that is peaceful.
As you launch
your negotiations at the regional level, let me commend the peace initiatives
that have been taking place with respect to
In the case of
I believe that we all look forward to
that time when
Rt Hon. Prime
Minister
In conclusion, I would like to assure the
negotiators of Eastern and
I thank you for your kind attention.