Negotiations to deepen the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and five of the 11 countries in the ACP Group's Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region were launched on Wednesday 2 October in Mauritius, the European Commission announced the same day.
The countries concerned, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe, have declared their readiness to move beyond trade in goods to which the current EPA is limited.
This EPA, concluded at the end of 2007, has been provisionally applied by Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe since 14 May 2012 and by Comoros since February 2019. Zambia, which had concluded the interim agreement, never ratified it. "The deepening of the current agreement will move our partnership to another level. It will boost bilateral trade and investment flows and contribute to job creation and further economic growth in our respective regions while promoting sustainable development", says EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström in a statement.
The EU has agreed to provide financial assistance for the setting up of an EPA Coordination Mechanism. whose aim is to ensure appropriate coordination and technical support to the five ESA countries so they can engage effectively in the negotiation process.
Eastern and southern African countries mainly export commodities (sugar, coffee, fish, tobacco, copper and crude oil) to the EU. The EU exports manufactured products (machinery and mechanical equipment, equipment, vehicles and pharmaceuticals) to the region.
EPAs are progressive and asymmetrical trade liberalisation agreements that are supposed to be development tools. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)