Africa: As preferences and commodity trade fails Africa
Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra) | 10 September 2007
Africa: As Preferences And Commodity Trade Fails Africa
Joseph Coomson
Accra
The Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana has voiced out that its relationship with Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa based on preferences and commodity trade has largely failed to deliver development and it was time to take the bold step to try something new, the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
The Delegation was reacting to some media reports that the EPA was a tool to re-colonise Africa and deny it of proper development.
The delegation dispelled the notion that the EU was steamrolling West Africa into completing negotiations this year. "We are not," it said in a press release in Accra on Thursday.
The press release entitled ’Economic Partnership Agreements: tackling the myths in Ghana’ said the legal protection at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the existing trade agreements expires at the end of the year and because the current arrangements heavily favour Ghana in EU markets over other developing countries, they will be challenged if it does nothing by other developing countries. It therefore, needed a trade agreement compatible with WTO rules. The delegation said the EPAs offer a solution to that.
"We can’t extend the existing system - the only legal alternative to EPA that we have is called the Generalised System of Preferences or "GSP". This offers much less generous market access, unless a country is classed as "Least Developed" by the United Nations - which Ghana is not," the press statement stated.
The statement said the assertion that Ghana qualifies for a special arrangement called "GSP+" was false because Ghana has not ratified some key international conventions on human rights and development. "Not only has Ghana yet to complete these ratifications but there is a waiting list of countries that already have and the process is a lengthy one, with disruptive effects on existing shipping and contract arrangements," the delegation stressed.
This means that, with no EPA, key Ghanaian exports like aluminium, pineapples, cocoa and tuna will be more expensive in EU markets from next January. Nobody wants this, least of all the EU consumers that buy these products, the statement said. "This is why we are striving for an agreement by the end of the year," it stressed.
The European Commission also dispel the claim that EPAs would not be fair in that they will open ACP markets to EU trade at the expense of local businesses, and local growth. "EPAs won’t mean "free trade" with Ghana from January 1st next year, or any time soon". In fact, the press release said the Economic Partnership Agreements are not free trade agreements in the usual sense. It said on the EU side there will be no more customs duties, no more quotas. During this transition time, the EU will provide technical and financial support to help with implementation of the new arrangements.
It was their opinion that the EPAs would stimulate local and regional markets and open new opportunities for local entrepreneurs.
The Commission recognised that certainly, the EPA negotiations would force them to face up to difficult issues.
But it said it was essential that there was strong debate over EPAs and it welcomes many voices raised in Accra and elsewhere. It further said that to suggest that Economic Partnership Agreements are a danger to African development was misleading and wrong. "The EPAs are not a threat to development; they are an opportunity not to miss and a valuable tool to achieve development," the delegation opined.
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have condemned the European Union for abusing the December deadline to put unjustifiable pressure on African governments to concede to its terms. They also cautioned African governments not to buy into the EU’s false claims. The CSOs from several African countries met in Accra, Ghana last week re-stated that Africa has everything to lose and nothing to gain by signing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union. They said contrary to European Union claims, African countries do not need to sign EPAs to maintain their current market access levels to the European market but can adopt the General System of Preference plus (GSP+) which will enable African countries to continue to have access to EU market at levels similar to what they enjoy today, and this can even be improved.
Economic Partnership Agreements are a scheme to create a free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and the ACP countries. They are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating preferential trade agreements offered by the EU are incompatible with WTO rules. The EPAs are a key element of the Cotonou Agreement, the latest agreement in the history of ACP-EU Development Cooperation and are to take effect as of 2008.
