The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

ACP Press Statement 7
October 10, 2008

The 6th Summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Heads of State and Government in Accra, Ghana last week, decided to explore the creation of an ACP Free Trade Area (FTA).

This is one of the major decisions taken by the ACP Leaders regarding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), currently negotiated between ACP regions and the European Union.

As a result, ACP leaders instructed the Council of Ministers to pursue the consideration of the creation of an ACP Free Trade Area (FTA).
The ACP Group has 79 Members.

They also decided that the ACP Heads of State and Government, represented by the Chairperson of the Africa Union, and those of CARIFORUM and Pacific ACP Summits, and headed by the President of the ACP Summit engage in high level consultations on the EPAs, with a number of EU Member States. 

ACP Leaders further instructed the President of Council and the Secretary-General Sir John Kaputin to explore by the end of October 2008, modalities for conducting this high level engagement with key stakeholders in the European Union.

Meanwhile, ACP leaders were concerned that the EPA negotiation process has split the Group into countries that have initialed interim or full EPAs and those that have not initialed any agreement.
Most ACP states have also expressed concerns about the process and content of the EPAs.

Furthermore, concerns were also expressed that pressure is being put on some ACP countries to move forward to sign and ratify the interim or final EPAs.

In the Accra Declaration, the Leaders emphasized that EPAs must be instruments for sustainable economic growth and development that shall build on existing regional integration processes, and promote further the unity, cohesion and solidarity of the ACP Group.

Further details contact: iroga@acp.int