Brussels, 01/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 31 May in Brussels, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers made progress in its dialogue on migration. It did not, however, manage to make any progress at all on the issue of economic partnership agreements (EPAs). Negotiations are continuing to stall in this connection, despite the fact that they were launched 10 years ago.
Ministers agreed to strive towards obtaining concrete results by the end of the year in an effort to enhance operational cooperation in the areas of visas, the transfer of funds from migrants to their countries of origin and the re-admission of illegal immigrants. During the last review of the Cotonou agreement, no consensus was reached on any of these issues. It is also due to the inability to amend the provisions in the Cotonou agreement that the two parties have begun their political dialogue.
On the subject of the EPAs, the exchange of views confirmed the two parties' determination to reach a conclusion. ACP ministers have not, however, abandoned their demand for these trade liberalisation agreements to be genuinely placed at the service of their countries' development and that the WTO Doha Round is used towards this end. So far, the Caribbean is the only area to have concluded a comprehensive EPA. (A.N./transl.fl)