12/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - De Gucht in southern Africa for EPAs. From 15 to 19 July, European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will be visiting four southern African countries in the hope of making progress in the laborious negotiations on economic partnership agreements (EPAs) with the EU. The commissioner will go to Kenya that belongs to the East African Community (EAC), as well as Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, three countries of the South African Development Community (SADC) that are negotiating a regional EPA. The EU has threatened Kenya, Namibia and Botswana that they will lose their preferential access to the European market (duty free and without quotas) unless they ratify an EPA before the deadline of October 2014 (see EUROPE 10861). South Africa, for its part, is connected to the EU by the trade, development and cooperation agreement (TDCA). (AN/transl.jl)