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

President Kufuor says EPAs divide ACP

ACP PRESS STATEMENT 3
October 2nd, 2008

Incoming President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group and Ghanaian President John Kufuor has admitted that the Economic Partnership Agreements has divided the solidarity of the ACP Group.

Speaking at the opening of the 6th ACP Summit of Heads of State and Government, Mr Kufuor said even before this evolving global effort, there have been partnerships with preferential treatment similar to the ACP and EU partnership. 

However, he said that these special relationships are now being subsumed under WTO agreements which somehow continue to be frustrated by the resistance of developed countries who are unwilling to remove subsidies on their agricultural produce and thereby, compromising the very basis of fair trade. 

“Embarrassingly, some of our members have been caught, on the one hand, between the non-fulfillments of the DOHA Round which would have created a fairer trading system; and the resort to trading arrangements such as the EPAs with the EU, on the other, which tend to undermine our regional integration efforts,” President Kufuor said. 

Mr Kufuor said: ““The EPAs divide the solidarity that used to bind the ACP countries together under the pretext of giving regional emphasis to the relationship between the EU and the six ACP regions.”

He said the EPAs also threatened to deprive members that do not sign by giving deadlines which could prove catastrophic to “our fragile economies.”

The EPAs is one of the major topics being discussed in the Summit.

Outgoing President and President of Sudan H.E Omer Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir said in many ways, the last two years under his presidency were very difficult.

The EPAs was among the problems highlighted by the Sudanese President.

Secretary General Sir John Kaputin said the negotiations of the EPAs have occupied the Group for a considerable period of time. 

“Progress in the regions has been achieved to varying degrees.  However, I do regret that the process has led to a split of the Group into states that have embraced the full EPAs and others which have doubts, and have persistently expressed concerns about the scope and content of these agreements.” 

Sir John said addressing all contentious issues will smooth the way for the successful conclusion of the EPA process and produce an agreement that will be embraced by both sides. 

For details: contact iroga@acp.int

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