Fish exporters set conditions for EPAs
Monitor, Kampala
Fish exporters set conditions for EPAs
By Joseph Olanyo, Kampala
23 July 2007
With barely five months to go before the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) come into force, it is still unclear whether agreements in the negotiations will be reached.
EPAs are trade deals being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
The EPA allows products from any member country access to any market within the partnership at competitive tax rates. Along with 15 other countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, Uganda is negotiating the EPAs with the EU.
At a one-day consultative workshop in Kampala on July 20 to review progress of EPAs for the fisheries sector, Uganda Fish Processors and Exporters Association (UFPEA) said while the probability of signing EPA was high, there were some areas that needed to be considered. UFPEA and Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) contended that the signing should be subject to certain conditions.
UFPEA want among other things, increasing funding on Lake Victoria management project, financial support for more laboratories, and support fish food for aquaculture.
"We are saying that we want to be part of EPA. We want it to be signed, continue with market access and also develop our sector in terms of increased production," said UFPEA Chief Executive Officer Ovia Katiti Matovu.
The fisheries sector, one of the clusters being negotiated under the EPAs, are a leading Ugandan export, a major employer to many lake communities and the major market is Europe. The others sectors are agriculture, trade related issues such as services and market access.
"The opportunity cost of not signing EPA is high," said PSFU trade policy officer Mr John Ssempebwa. In 2002, the EU and ACP countries officially opened negotiations on EPAs.
The negotiations, which are to take place over five years, are aimed at redefining the trade regime between the two groups of countries. Uganda is a member state. The negotiations have now entered a critical phase before the expiry of the December 31 deadline.
The outcome of the negotiations will see a series of new Free Trade Agreements (FTA) replacing the Lomé system of preferential access to the European market.
Fish processors and exporters contend that there are possible dangers that full liberalisation of fisheries might deplete Lake Victoria when better vessels from Europe are allowed to fish on the lakes.
In addition, the failure for Uganda to sign the EPAs means that Ugandan fish exports will now be subjected to some kind of tariff which is charged to fish from non-Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
With the high costs of business like high costs of power in processing fish, limited freezing facilities, fish exporters will have a hard time to compete with fish from more competitive non-LDC countries like Kenya.
A lot remains at stake for Uganda’s fish exports because the fisheries negotiations are dominated by sea fisheries while inland fisheries are given very little attention.
