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EU-CAN negotiations: Biodiversity in the crosshairs
16-Jul-2008 Radio Mundo Real
Bolivia’s position on intellectual property rights, on the one hand, and biodiversity, on the other, had earlier put a damper on Colombia and Peru’s drive to sign a trade deal with the US and is now affecting that to reach one with "the 27".
BANGO petitioning for better EPA deal
16-Jul-2008 The Nation
The Barbados Association of NGOs (BANGO) is seeking 5 000 signatures for a petition calling on Government to work out a better Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Europe.
The EPA: A critical evaluation
16-Jul-2008 Norman Girvan
Analyses the Cariforum-EC EPA from a critical standpoint, including the EPA architecture, what each side gets from the Agreement, the scope of binding commitments, the institutional machinery and the scope for revision of the Agreement. The points are illustrated with direct quotations from the EPA text.
The anti-development dimension of the European Community’s EPA for the Caribbean
16-Jul-2008 Norman Girvan
The ACP countries, by opening up their markets freely to European goods, services and companies will be transformed into a state of development via an impressive chain of unproven, theoretical assumptions. The EPA itself is replete with development rhetoric and references to the development objectives of the Agreement, most, if not all, of which are compromised by the content of the Agreement itself. Nowhere in the Agreement is there a direct, targeted attack on the basic supply-side problem, let alone binding commitments to put in place a complement of measures aimed at this problem.
Botswana, UK want fruits of EPAs
15-Jul-2008 Mmegi Mobile
While government officials promise the EPAs will bring more jobs and beef market openings for Botswana, Botswana unions believe they are nothing but recolonisation of ACP countries and say ’the EU is coming back to deplete our (African) resources’.
EU says early partnership pact possible with Syria
14-Jul-2008 Reuters
The European Union could sign a long-stalled partnership pact with Syria this year, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Sunday at the Paris launch of a new "Union for the Mediterranean"
Saga of deal with Europe
14-Jul-2008 Jamaica Observer
While the majority of Caricom governments have signalled readiness to sign the EPA, reservations remain strong enough. Meanwhile, conflicting signals keep coming out of Brussels.
Central America: Commission holds fourth round of negotiations for an Association Agreement
12-Jul-2008 7th Space
The European Commission, negotiating on behalf of the European Union, and Central America will meet in Brussels from 14 to 18 July 2008 for a fourth round of negotiations in view of an Association Agreement between the two regions.
EU/US FTAs and Malaysian SMEs
11-Jul-2008
Malaysia is currently negotiating an FTA with the USA and the European Union and as with any North-South FTAs their scope are extensive. The Third World Network has produced a preliminary report looking at the likely impact of these FTAs on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.
Nobel Economist Stiglitz criticises EPA
10-Jul-2008 GNA
Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, on Tuesday urged the government of Ghana to "take a cold hard look" at the Economic Partnership Agreement and negotiate its inimical aspects away, saying that the deal was not free but an extremely managed trade agreement.
Stop the EU taking the Caribbean for a ride
10-Jul-2008 Caribbean Net News
It has become patently evident that the European Union is taking the Caribbean for a ride over the Economic Partnership Agreement initialled last December. The Caribbean has to stop the ride and renegotiate the deeply troubling aspects of the EPA before any signing takes place.
Intellectual property in the EPA: broad scope, huge impact - Part 1
9-Jul-2008 Jamaica Observer
The historic Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) skilfully brokered last December between the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) and the European Community (EC) is impressively wide in its scope, but the impact of its implementation in countries such as Jamaica is still largely unexplored.
Costa Rica: EU not interested in free-trade agreement
9-Jul-2008 Tico Times
Costa Rican officials announced they are not satisfied with the market opening proposal issued by the European Union (EU) prior to the beginning of the fourth round of negotiations for an eventual EU-Central America agreement. Costa Rican trade officials stated that they “do not perceive an interest on the part of the Europeans to advance the process.”
APE : Un rapport qui conforte les frondeurs
8-Jul-2008 LeFasoNet
Taubira dénonce sans détour le libéralisme tous azimuts dont les APE sont un des reflets. Pour elle, la politique économique européenne a rendu l’Afrique dépendante et les APE, dans leur formule actuelle, ne feront que perpétuer ces rapports inégaux. Si ce discours fait l’affaire de ceux qui se montrent sceptiques vis-à-vis de la nouvelle relation économique que l’Europe veut instaurer avec l’Afrique, il embarrasse à bien des égards Nicolas Sarkozy, le commanditaire du rapport.
Ecowas: EU policy supersedes Ghana’s interim EPA deal
8-Jul-2008 Myjoyonline
Ghana would by September next year cease to adhere to the rules and conditions of the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement that it signed with the European Commission in December 2007 when the ECOWAS-EU policy comes into force.
Why Nigeria refused to sign EPA - ECOWAS
8-Jul-2008 Leadership Nigeria
The ECOWAS Trade Commissioner, Mohammed Daramy, has given some of the many reasons why Nigeria refused to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which deadline expired on December 31, 2007.
CAWN action against EU-Central America FTA
7-Jul-2008 CAWN
Urgent action is needed to strengthen democratic scrutiny of the negotiations and ensure that the Association Agreement with Europe doesn’t worsen poverty, gender inequality and violations of women’s rights in Central America.
Harper, Fillon discuss EU free-trade deal during hour-long meeting
3-Jul-2008
Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with his French counterpart Francois Fillon in Ottawa on Wednesday, with Afghanistan and a potential free-trade agreement between Canada and the European Union among the topics of discussion.
Caricom nations divided on EPA issue
3-Jul-2008
Caricom countries remain divided on the issue of the CARIFORUM-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
Guyana will sign EU trade deal after national dialogue
3-Jul-2008 GuyanaLive
Guyana will not sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) until it has completed a full national consultation or alternatively "pragmatically earlier if the EC [European Commission] continues with its bully-boy tactics of seeking to impose tariffs on our exports," President Bharrat Jagdeo said.