Brussels, 08/07/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Union and seven countries of the South Africa Development Community (SADC) launched negotiations on Thursday for an economic partnership agreement (EPA) to promote trade, trade liberalisation and regional integration as development tools (see EUROPE of 6 July, p.13). The inaugural ceremony to establish the roadmap for these talks was held in Windhoek (Namibia) in the presence of Botswana's Trade Minister, Chief Negotiator, and the European Commissioners for Trade and Development, Danuba Hübner and Poul Nielson. The EPAs, foreseen in the Cotonou Agreement binding the EU and the 79 ACP countries (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific), must be compatible with the rules of the WTO to take effect in 2008, the date when the derogation enjoyed by the EU and the ACPs expires to maintain their current unilateral trade preference regime in favour of ACP States.
The SADC countries party to the negotiation are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Tanzania, i.e. half the members of this African integrated regional entity. Four of them (Angola, Lesotho, Tanzania and Mozambique) are among the developing countries and, as such, have enjoyed access to the European market free of customs duties and tariff quotas for all their products since 2001, in the context of the Everything But Arms initiative.
The European Commission strongly believes in EPAs. "If at the end of these negotiations, the Southern African region stands as a stronger region, able to define its common interest and improve jointly the environment for business and investors, we will all have won, Danuta Hübner said. Poul Nielson added to this: "By building larger markets within the stable and predictable framework of an Economic partnership Agreement our partner countries in the ACP will be much better placed to access and reap the development benefits of the world trade system. But it will require that they seize the opportunity and allow the EPAs to become the vehicle for regional integration that it is promising to be".
Other SADC countries (Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Seychelles and Malawi) have chosen to negotiate an EPA with the EU in a grouped Eastern and Southern Africa configuration (see EUROPE of 4 February, p.12). South Africa, which has already concluded a partnership, trade and development agreement with the EU (now being revised), takes part in these regional talks as an observer.