EU : APEB wants boycott of banana imports in FTA talks with Latin America
FreshPlaza (Netherlands) | March 21 2007
EU : APEB wants boycott of banana imports in FTA talks with Latin America
European banana growers request that banana imports be ignored in negotiations
André van der Wiel
Tholen — The association of European banana producers APEB has announced that it will request the EU to leave any discussion of the banana import tariff out of the negotiations on economic collaboration or free trade agreements with the Andean countries in South America and with the countries in Central America. APEB has addressed the Spanish government in a letter, with the request that the state will not take a single initiative that might hurt the interests of Canary banana growers, as ’one can hardly negotiate with parties that continuously denounce us with every international institute’. APEB announced this viewpoint after it became known that Ecuador presses on with its WTO arbitration against the EU.
However, one disregards the position of Costa Rica in this matter, which is also a major supplier on the European market, and which kept out of the WTO trial with the specific reason of having hope on reaching an agreement on banana imports through the talks on economic collaboration with the EU.
