Sir John Kaputin

Secretary General of the ACP Group

WELCOME SPEECH

“Legal Experts Meeting on the Economic Partnership Agreements”

Tuesday, 9 October 2007

ACP House – 451 avenue Georges Henri, 1200 Brussels

SG SPEECH FOR THE LEGAL EXPERTS MEETING ON THE ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS

Excellencies, the ACP Ambassadors

Distinguished Experts

Ladies and Gentlemen

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to the ACP House.  I do not need to emphasize the importance of this meeting, and especially at this time – that is, towards the end of 2007.  As you are aware, the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), building on Cotonou Partnership Agreement, has to be aimed at achieving the fundamental development objectives enshrined in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

The EPA for some time now has been a standard agenda item for meetings in the different ACP organs. This is perhaps to be expected given that the precepts of regionalization, envisioned in the six EPA negotiated frameworks, are bound to profoundly affect the socio-political and economic dimensions of ACP countries.

The search for pathways through what I would like to humorously call the “EPA quagmire” goes beyond 31 December 2007, the due date of the EPA finalization.  The implementation phase, quite possibly the more difficult component, requires diligence and expertise to ensure that the transition - positive or negative - is handled as best as we possibly can. In that vein, your presence here this morning signifies the importance of your contributions to the conclusions of the EPA negotiations.

In May 2007, the ACP Council of Ministers instructed the ACP Ministers responsible for the EPA as well as the Chief Negotiators to meet during the second half of 2007 to assess progress of the negotiations and address all outstanding issues that may hinder the timely conclusion of the negotiations. In this regard, the ACP Ministers of Trade were called upon to decide on the road-map and calendar of activities that would be followed towards the conclusion and signing of the EPA.

In order to assist in the preparations for the ACP Ministers of Trade meeting, the ACP Secretariat convened the Sixth Meeting of the Technical Follow-up Group in Brussels on the 10 to12 July 2007.  This meeting brought together the chief technical negotiators and advisers from the various ACP regions with the aim of sharing information and experiences as well as to exchange notes and ideas on the outstanding issues concerning the EPA negotiations.

It was at the Sixth Meeting that the Technical Follow-up Group identified some of the legal problems surrounding the Economic Partnership Agreements. In consequence, the Group mandated the ACP Secretariat to convene at the earliest possible time an ACP Legal Experts meeting to look at the legal issues that affect the negotiations and help clarify some of the legal problems.

Distinguished participants

Your agenda has a number of issues that you are to consider and subsequently offer recommendations which will feed into the meeting of the ACP Ministers responsible for the EPA scheduled to take place towards the end of this month. These issues include:

·        Dispute settlement mechanism,

·        Relationship between the Cotonou Agreement and EPAs ,

·        Definition of parties

·        Transition measures and ratification process.

·        Final provisions- duration, withdrawal, review clause, and exemption

·        Institutional issues; and

·        Notification to the WTO 

It is important to resolve these outstanding legal issues so that the negotiations can be concluded successfully.  

In conclusion, I would like to assure you the full support of the ACP Secretariat in achieving the aims and objectives of this meeting. With this, I wish us all a successful and fruitful discussion for the coming days.

I thank you for your attention.