Europeans drop demands of equal treatment in Free Trade with Dominicans
Dominican Today | 12 October 2006
Europeans drop demands of equal treatment in Free Trade with Dominicans
Santo Domingo.- As part of an important achievement for the Dominican Republic, the European Union (EU) will not demand from the Dominican Republic the same treatment that the Caribbean nation is compelled to grant to its partners in the Free Trade Agreement with Central America and the United States (DR-CAFTA).
According to Ben Nupnau, economic advisor for the European Commission, it would be illogical to establish a free trade treaty in equal terms as that with the United States, adding that negotiations between the Europeans and Caribbean nations (EPA) hold its own particularities.
Notwithstanding, the Cotonu Agreement (cosigned by the Dominican Republic), establishes the commitment among signatory members to grant equal treatment to all European Union countries as would be granted to any industrialized nation.
The EPA is an agreement that defines relations between the EU and its partners as to goods and services and related issues, such as investment, competition policies, intellectual property rights and public sector purchases.
