CSOs insist govt should re-think EPAs
East African Business Week
CSOs insist govt should re-think EPAs
By Joseph Olanyo
8 June 2010
KAMPALA-As the East African Community Ministers converge in the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam with a possibility of signing the long awaited Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Civil Society Organisations are still thinking otherwise.
At a meeting in Kampala, Uganda last week, civil society organizations working on trade and development are concerned that the joint EAC-EC-EPA Ministerial meeting in Dar-es-Salaam from the June 7-9 2010, will culminate into signing the Framework Economic Partnership Agreement (FEPA).
N a joint statement after the meeting, the CSO’s resolved that they do not see valid reasons for immediately signing the FEPA at this time and rushing to conclude the comprehensive agreement by the end of December 2010. "We are concerned about the democratic deficit in the process leading to the proposed signing on June 9, and we strongly believe that the conclusion of the EPAs should be driven by agreement on substance and not deadlines," the CSO’s said in a statement.
"We recall that when the FEPA was initialed in September 2007, we as CSOs raised our concerns on a number of issues and we were encouraged when government took on board some of these concerns and raised them for re-negotiation.
However we are convinced that these contentious issues have not yet been satisfactorily addressed for us to go on and sign the FEPA".
