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

July 14th, 2008

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group says that it will find it “impossible” to support any consensus in the current World Trade Organisation Doha Development Agenda negotiations unless there is suitable treatment for bananas and other products that are the subject of long-standing preferences.

During the 87th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers held in Ethiopia in June 2008, the ACP Group maintained that unless there is suitable treatment for products that are benefiting from long standing preferences – they would find it extremely difficult to associate themselves with any consensus.

Last week, Head of Governments of the Caribbean Community, a region that is part of the ACP Group, during their meeting in Antigua & Barbuda, reiterated their call for suitable treatment of ACP bananas in the WTO DDA negotiations.

They said that if the outcomes of the negotiations are to be balanced, there must be suitable treatment for bananas and other products that are the subject of long-standing preferences. They further said that “If this were not to be the case, Caribbean countries would find it ‘impossible’ to join in any consensus that may emerge in the current talks.”

According to the leaders, preferential access to the European market has been instrumental in raising thousands of small farmers out of poverty and has enabled them to achieve commendable levels of social and environmental responsibility, among other things.

They noted that, while the recently initialed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will shield the Caribbean’s preferential access to the EU market from further legal challenges in the WTO, developments in negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) threatened to severely reduce the European Union’s MFN tariff for bananas, which is the instrument that enables the region to continue exporting profitably to the European market.

The ACP States further note that MFN suppliers – who were granted quota-free access to the EU market in January 2006 and have increased exports by 10% since then - have continued to call for substantial reductions in the EU’s import tariff.

The ACP states said that as a result it would severely damage the interests of Caribbean producers.

In 2007, banana exports of the ACP Group to the EU declined by nine percent and that almost every CARICOM exporter experienced declines in their exports for that year.

The group has also expressed its concern on its exclusion from discussions between the EU and the MFN banana suppliers, adding that the subsequent results could be devastating for its economic interests.

The Heads of Government also observed that, in the WTO Doha negotiations, the same group of countries, claiming to be interested in the liberalization of “tropical products”, has as its main objective the elimination of the small share of the EU market available to banana producers in ACP states.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean leaders noted with appreciation, the Joint Statement emanating from a Meeting of Ministers of agriculture and other representatives held in Paris, France, on 30 April 2008.

Cameroon, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, France, Ghana, Greece, Cote d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Madagascar, Portugal, Spain and Suriname attended the meeting which upheld the importance of maintaining a stable banana market in the EU, catering in a balanced way to the interests of all those who participate in it.

The leaders also reaffirmed the Resolution of the 87th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers held in Addis Ababa on June 8-13, 2008, which, among other things, rejected any proposal that would have the effect of drastically reducing the current applied tariff of Euro 176/tonne.

Ends

Further details contact: iroga@acp.int