Brussels, 31/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday 29 August, at their meeting with their counterparts from Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) in Grand Baie, Mauritius, Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton and Swedish Deputy Trade Minister Gunnar Wieslander, on behalf of the EU, signed an interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe. Zambia and Comoros have indicated they will sign at a later date. The agreement gives the signatory countries immediate and full access to EU markets - with transition periods for rice and sugar - together with improved rules of origin. The ESA countries will open their markets gradually over the next 15 years, phasing out tariffs on between 80% and 98% of imports from the EU depending on the country. Among the products excluded from liberalisation are sensitive agricultural and manufactured products such as milk, meat, vegetables, textiles, footwear and clothing. Other countries of the region, like Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi and Sudan, are involved in ongoing negotiations for the more comprehensive regional agreement and may join the agreement later. As Least Developed Countries they have duty-free access to EU markets under the EU Everything But Arms trade arrangement and do not need to submit a market access offer to sign the agreement and benefit from its development cooperation and fisheries provisions while negotiations towards the more comprehensive deal continue. The full EPA will cover issues like services, investment, agriculture, technical standards, trade facilitation and trade-related rules. In 2008, total EU imports from the ESA group were approximately €3.2billion and EU exports to the ESA group of countries totalled €4.3bn. (E.H./transl.rt)