Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-03-11-Speech-2-370"
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"en.20080311.33.2-370"2
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"Things have moved on since the Commission’s update to the Committee on Development in January of this year. The legal texts have been jointly checked for the Caribbean economic partnership agreement, and we are beginning the process leading to signature and ratification. In other regions, we have been preparing the interim agreements for signature and have been reflecting on how to replace these with full EPAs.
I have just returned from a visit to southern and eastern Africa taking in Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. I held ministerial meetings with the SADC and ESA regions, and I had extensive discussions with President Mbeki on both EPAs and the DDA, incidentally. I was struck in all meetings with ESA and SADC by the commitment of the regions to move forward with the negotiations, not to look back and not to unravel what has been achieved, with all the disastrous implications for trade security that that unravelling would have. This was reflected in joint declarations in which we made clear our shared commitment to agree full EPAs by the end of this year.
We have also held senior official meetings with central Africa and west Africa in recent days. Central Africa wants a full EPA by July, and west Africa intends to reach a full EPA in mid-2009. Finally, the Pacific region is consulting internally, but the agreed objective remains to finalise a full EPA in 2008.
My clear sense is that most of the regions are now coming out of a period of stock-taking and reflection after the developments of last December and are clearly restating their commitment to move towards full EPAs. This is an important sign that their commitment to integrating trade and development strategies in a progressive, forward-looking way. It is a commitment I welcome.
Our objectives for full EPAs for whole regions and covering the full range of trade, trade-related and development issues remain unchanged. In the mean time non-LDCs like Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire and others say they have protected thousands of agricultural jobs through the interim agreements, and LDCs like Tanzania and Lesotho praise improvements in rules of origin. Sensitive agricultural sectors are protected, and the ACP now have time and space to work out how to reach full regional agreements.
EPAs need to be closely monitored in both aid and trade aspects. This is why the Caribbean EPA establishes compressive monitoring arrangements, including parliamentary and other consultative subcommittees. The interim agreements will be replaced with full EPAs that include similar provisions before any substantive liberalisation commitments apply on the ACP side."@en1
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