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EPAs

Legal obstacles emerge over free trade deal with Europe
25-Oct-2007 Business Daily Africa
A landmark case has entered the Kenyan corridors of justice as a group of farmers and a human rights watchdog move to challenge the State over ongoing negotiations for a new trade agreement with Europe.
European Commission presents roadmap for negotiating trade agreements with ACP countries
24-Oct-2007 DG Trade
For the European Commission, the end of 2007 represents a firm deadline for negotiating the goods market access element of the Economic Partnership Agreements
NGOs accuse miffed Mandy of neo-imperialism
24-Oct-2007 Guardian
Peter Mandelson is feeling misunderstood. As EU trade commissioner, he stands accused of being a neo-colonialist trying to railroad through Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries within the next few weeks.
When colonies come of age
22-Oct-2007 Fiji Times
As the deadline for a new trade deal with the European Union approaches, the question on people’s minds is: Are developing countries in the Pacific still willing to play?
’No postponement of EPA deadline’ - EU
20-Oct-2007 AllAfrica.com
The European Union has rejected calls by West African states to postpone the end-of-year deadline for concluding a free trade agreement.
’EU undermining agriculture in Africa’
19-Oct-2007 IPS
Europe is undermining its own efforts to strengthen African agriculture by foisting free trade on the continent, a Ghanaian farm leader has complained.
East African states to shield domestic industries in EU trade pact
16-Oct-2007 Angola Press
East African Ministers of Trade on Friday agreed to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with the European Union as a bloc before embarking on detailed negotiations with the Eastern and Southern Africa states.
SAfrica won’t ’roll over’ on services trade with EU
14-Oct-2007 Reuters
The European Union needs to scale down its ambitions for accessing the service sector in southern Africa as it negotiates an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the region, said South Africa’s deputy trade minister Rob Davies.
Caribbean may sue to reinstate EU sugar deal
12-Oct-2007 IPS
Caribbean Community leaders may try to reinstate the EU sugar protocol through an international court.
Ghana: Industries against signing
10-Oct-2007 AllAfrica.com
The Association of Ghana Industry (AGI) has added its voice to the clarion cry on African governments not to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) or risk killing local industries.
No deal reached in EU-Caribbean trade talks
7-Oct-2007 Reuters
The European Union and countries in the Caribbean failed to agree on a new trade and investment deal in two days of talks that ended on Friday. EU officials had expected the Caribbean to become the first of the ACP regions to agree to a new deal.
West Africa to miss EU trade partnership deadline
6-Oct-2007 Reuters
West Africa will miss a Dec. 31 deadline to sign a new trade partnership with the European Union and hopes to keep its preferential commercial privileges for up to two years while it negotiates, a West African official said.
EU, Pacific countries to seek interim trade deal
5-Oct-2007 Reuters
The European Union and Pacific countries agreed on Tuesday to seek an interim new trade deal, to enter into force on 1 January, while they continue negotiating an EPA by end of 2008.
The gloves are off — Europe dismisses sugar, insults tourism ahead of ’make-or-break’ trade talks
5-Oct-2007 Jamaica Gleaner
Tempers flare as Caricom trade negotiators and the European Commission work with an October 15 deadline to initial an EU-Caribbean EPA
Caribbean grapples with loss of EU sugar deal
3-Oct-2007 IPS
Last week, the EU unilaterally renounced a 32-year sugar protocol that had guaranteed fixed quotas and prices for ACP countries, with no clear indications of how exactly sugar will be treated in the new EPAs.
An analysis of the EC non-paper on the objectives and possible elements of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA
1-Oct-2007 ICTSD
The combination of the time-factor, the TRIPS-plus implications of many of the elements suggested by the EC, the challenges that would face non-WTO Pacific countries to even adhere to TRIPS and the general level of development in these countries, it is strongly recommended that Pacific countries do not agree to the inclusion of an IP section in the EC-Pacific EPA.
Hope diminishing for new Caribbean-EU trade agreement
30-Sep-2007 Jamaica Gleaner
As September draws to a close, the likelihood diminishes that an economic partnership agreement (EPA) is achievable this year between the European Union and the Caribbean.
Ghana: Organised labour worried over EPA
29-Sep-2007 GNA
Mr. Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress, said the leadership of organised labour had discussed the main issues of the EPA negotiations and concluded that the current efforts to negotiate a free and fair trade agreement between the world’s single most powerful economic bloc and weaker economies was impossible.
Stop EU trade talks with ex-colonies - protesters
27-Sep-2007 Reuters
Demonstrators in Brussels and Nairobi demanded on Thursday a halt to trade and investment negotiations between the European Union and former colonies, saying the proposed deal would harm poor countries.
World Bank asks for more time on EPAs
27-Sep-2007 IPS
Senior World Bank staff have asked the European Union to consider extending the end-of-year deadline it has set for a series of free trade agreements with Africa.