(ACP House, 5 december 2005)
Ministers of ACP sugar-producing countries met in two separate groups (countries signatory to the Sugar Protocol, and sugar-producing least developed countries (LDCs) under the Everything-But-Arms (EBA) initiative) at ACP House on Monday, 5 December 2005, to examine the EU's sugar regime reform on which a compromise was reached by the European Ministers on 24 November 2005.
The ACP Ministers signatory to the Sugar Protocol, as well as their counterparts from the sugar producing LDCs, were unanimous in their consternation at the unfairness of the reform which proposes the application of a radical reform over a period of time that is too short (4 years), within an implementation timeframe that is also too short (2006-2007).
The Ministers pointed out that what was even more unfair is the fact that European farmers would be compensated for, on average, 64.2% of the price cut, while the ACP Sugar Protocol countries have only received the promise of a vague, paltry 40 million Euro for 2006[1]. The LDC EBA Group has not been promised any compensation whatsoever.
The Ministers of the ACP countries signatory to the ACP-EU Sugar Protocol therefore appealed to the EU to ensure that the reform respects the agreement concluded under the Protocol, and that a disproportionate share of the cost of the reform is not transferred to them. They called for support to adequately finance the accompanying measures, taking into account the real costs estimated by their sugar industries.
The LDCs under the EBA Initiative appealed to the EU to ensure that the implementation modalities of the new regime, particularly the warning mechanism relating to the control of the volume of imports from LDCs be specified in such a way as not to hamper legitimate LDC exports to the EU. They asked the EU for adequate accompanying resources to support, in particular, the restructuring of their industries, and to finance diversification options within or outside the sugar sector, as well as the possibility of exporting all types of sugar to give full value to the EBA initiative.
ACP countries signatory to the Sugar Protocol
Barbados, Belize, Côte-d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Fiji, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, St. Kitts & Nevis, Suriname, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
