Brussels, 04/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - During their meeting with European Commissioners Pascal Lamy and Franz Fischler in Brussels on 3 March, trade ministers from the Sudan, Mozambique, Nepal and Bangladesh requested a 10 year delay in the implementation of the EBA initiative and more chances for benefiting from access to the European Union sugar market.
In a press conference before the meeting the Sudanese trade minister announced, "We are not against liberalisation of the sugar market, we simply need time to become competitive, give us ten years". Less Developed Countries (LDC), including 49 African and Asian countries where sugar is a key commodity, proposed that the EU postpones the gradual liberalisation of import tariffs till 2016-2019, whereas the EBA initiative is planned from 2006 to 2009. LDCs are also calling for more complementary access to a second gradual tariff quota, which would increase by 15% every year staring 2005. LDCs wanted this second tariff quota to begin with 100,000 tonnes in 2004-05 with a ceiling of 1.6 million tonnes in 2012-13 and beyond, in their initiative to protect LDCs from the negative impact of a future European sugar reform. Franz Fischler admitted on Wednesday that reform of the European sugar policy was necessary but added that this would be done by taking into account the interests of less developed countries. EU prices are more than EUR per tone as opposed to EUR 200 on the international market.
LDCs also proposed setting up strong anti-fraud procedures and an official registration system based on the principle of customs cooperation to ensure respect for rules of origin and guarantee that all benefits from the initiative effectively reached their sugar industries.