Brussels, 18/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The main Latin American countries that produce bananas have again voiced energetic and categorical protest against the quota system envisaged by the Union. One notable exception to this concert, officialised by a joint resolution approved at ministerial level, on Tuesday in Panama is Ecuador, the largest world producer, which again expressed "satisfaction", although mitigated, following the EU's decision to "finally approve a solution compatible with the WTO".
Ecuador, which is directly involved in the transatlantic dispute alongside the United States and also applied sanctions against the Community industry, thus welcomed the fact that "while maintaining legitimate protection for Community and ACP producers, the new system allows free competition between supplier countries by eliminating country quotas, and between operators by attributing licenses only to those who physically present bananas, thus eliminating the trafficking of licenses and quotas for operators". Ambassador Quito in Brussels, Afredo Pinoargote, nonetheless pointed out that he would be closely following the European legislative process in order to ensure that the new system is impeccably compatible with the WTO. He also said it is extremely important for the new regime to come into effect on 1 January 2001 as any deferral would only be to the advantage of those trading licenses and would give a distorted picture of the benefits of such a regime. Finally, the customs duty in the context of the third quota (ACP preference) should, says Quito, be around 75 and 275 euros per tonne.
For Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela and Colombia, the system appears very much not to be in conformity with the WTO rules. It is also in "total contradiction with the cooperation policy that the European Union wishes to carry out in Latin America", stresses the Panama resolution, which anticipates "harmful consequences for producers of the region". The "first come, first served" system will make investors flee to regions where labour is cheaper and will expose us to a grave social crisis in the sector, added the signatories.