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EPAs

South Africa: SA ’not in a hurry’ to sign EPA, says EU
31-Aug-2007 allafrica.com
As the December deadline for the signing of a European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member countries fast approaches without any sign of the deal being closed by then, European Union (EU) representatives in SA are growing frustrated and accuse Pretoria of procrastination over the negotiation.
EU-SADC EPA: Frustration between EU and SA boils to the surface as trade deadline looms
31-Aug-2007 Engineering News
Frustration is mounting in relations between the European Union and South Africa, in particular, in negotiations for an economic partnership agreement between the EU and the so-called Southern African Development Community group, comprising Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Pacific: Trade officials deeply concerned about European offer
31-Aug-2007 ABC
Pacific trade officials and legal experts from 14 Pacific Island nations have just spent 3 days examing Europe’s draft agreement in detail and are deeply concerned about the text (audio)
Uganda: Coffee producers are the biggest losers
30-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
The pending economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the European Union and developing countries will further exploit Ugandan coffee producers
African countries stand up to EU
29-Aug-2007 IPS
Concern over getting too little in return for what they are being asked to give up has led some African nations to say "no" to some proposals for new trade relations with Europe next year.
Kenya: EPAs could delay EU bid
28-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
Uncertainty is looming in Kenya’s horticultural sector following the move by the five EAC member states to sign one Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which they say could take much longer time than was previously anticipated.
Forum on food sovereignty in Korea
27-Aug-2007 LVC
Jose Bove said that the fight against EPA (Economic Partnership Agreements) is more difficult than the one against WTO because this only involves a few countries.
Tanzania hindering regional trade talks with Europe
26-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
The East African Community (EAC) is set to sign an economic pact with the European Union ahead of a December 31 deadline to avoid losing the lucrative export markets in Europe, but Tanzania is yet to agree to the plan, Kenyan official has disclosed.
EAC states avert major dispute over trade agreements with EU
20-Aug-2007 East African
A major dispute between partner states of the East African Community has been averted after the parties agreed that all the five members will now collectively sign one Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union
Tanzania will rue the cost of starting with SADC
20-Aug-2007 East African
With the partner states of the East African Community having agreed to negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe under one roof, Tanzania may be forced to count the cost of forgoing a relatively successful regional grouping in East Africa against political solidarity with Southern Africa’s regional power base — South Africa.
Africa: Lobbies want talks on EU trade pacts held up for three years
19-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
Civil society groups in Africa have called for the suspension of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries for at least three years to allow African governments to critically look through other regional initiatives they are already engaged in.
Scramble on for African resources - experts
18-Aug-2007 AllAfrica.com
Both the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the fast-tracked Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) seem to reflect less a genuine desire in fairer trade for the true benefits of the African economies than securing access to relevant markets and mainly the exploitation of relevant natural resources in the interest of the European Union and the USA, said Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Dr Henning Melber.
EAC states in row over EU trade deals
14-Aug-2007 The East African
Should the five member states of the East African Community negotiate an Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union as a single bloc, or should they do so as part of the larger Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) group?
South Pacific, European Union aid funds wrangle ends
6-Aug-2007 IHT
Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister said the Pacific trade ministers "have had some schooling and know how to read English. It is untrue that the Pacific misinterpreted the meaning (of the EC warning)."
Pacific: Getting the private sector in
3-Aug-2007 Islands Business
This is the first time that members of the major business sector and representatives of private sector organisations from all 14 Pacific Forum Islands Countries will be coming together with regional ministers and senior policy officials to discuss major strategic business issues that face the region.
EC backs down on Pacific aid conditionality threat
3-Aug-2007
The EC’s Head of Delegation to the Pacific has sent to the Pacific EPA negotiating team a letter dated Friday 3 August that states Pacific Trade Ministers have misinterpreted an earlier EC communication and there is no conditionality that would reduce the EDF funds available to the Pacific if the region does not sign an EPA.
Private sector urges restraint in signing EPA agreement
3-Aug-2007 Vanguard
Nigerian captains of commerce and industry have warned that the proposed trade agreements are not in the best interest of the growth of industry in the country.
African nations to sign parts of EU trade deal
2-Aug-2007 Reuters
The European Union and east African countries thrashing out a new but contentious trade deal will sign parts of it by a Dec. 31 deadline even if all is not ready by then, a Kenyan trade official said on Wednesday.
Pacific trade ministers protest EC aid threat in EPA talks
2-Aug-2007
Pacific Trade Ministers have responded to a threat by the EC to cut development aid funds to the region if the Pacific does not conclude the EPA by the end of the year. In a strongly worded letter to the EC Commissioner for Development, they stated they would “not accept the EC imposing this linkage on the RIP with respect to the EPA.”
EC threatens to withhold aid funds over EPA
2-Aug-2007
Just before the Pacific ACP Trade Ministers Meeting opened in Vanuatu on 31 July 2007, the Deputy Head of the Pacific desk in the EC’s DG Development sent the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat an email that stated the Pacific’s allocation of the European Development Fund would be cut by 48% if it does not sign up to an EPA and by 26% if a goods-only agreement is concluded.