Brussels, 27/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - Should developing countries rally around the position of the European Union, there would be some one hundred of the 142 countries members of the WTO in favour of the launch of a new multilateral trade negotiating round in November in Doha. It is armed with this arithmetical reasoning that Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner responsible for trade, will, in Kenya from 30 September to 2 October, meet ministers of the ACP countries on the occasion of the EU/ACP Joint Ministerial Committee on Trade Relations. Mr. Lamy will also examine with them the future of trade relations between the parties in the framework of the Cotonou Agreement. He is also to meet senior Kenyan officials, as well as representative of businesses circles and NGOs.
By going to Nairobi, Mr. Lamy is pursuing three objectives. Firstly, to convince certain ACP countries of the utility for them of launching a new round of negotiations in Doha. Although the positions of these countries are not set in marble, questions remain as to the interest of holding a new round to broach issues such as competition policy, the opening up of markets to foreign investments, and the opening up of public procurement. The Commissioner is thus leaving with the firm intention of responding to the will expressed by the ACP to secure clarifications before deciding on their final decision on Doha. Secondly, Mr. Lamy intends providing a new impetus to EU/ACP trade relations. Here, the Ministerial Committee is an ideal forum, as it is a question of a small-scale committee re-grouping 18 countries representatives of the different geographical areas of the whole formed of African , Caribbean and Pacific countries. The Commissioner will attempt to define those areas with which economic partnership agreements could be established, as provided for by the Cotonou Agreement. Finally, Lamy would like to make a "visit on the ground" to see the realities for himself, and in particular assess whether Community technical assistance indeed responds to ACP needs. He will also check on the ground that promises made by many firms and organisations of facilitating access to pharmaceutical products (by lowering prices) so as to combat wide-scale epidemics, like AIDS, have been kept.
Lamy will, moreover, meet Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi and the Minister of Trade, Nicholas Biwott, as well as representatives of business circles of the country and NGOs. He would also like to have a meeting with officials of the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme), the headquarters of which is in Nairobi. Indeed, we know of the importance the EU attaches to a clarification on the interaction between multilateral trade and environmental rules.