ISDS Case Map
Africa
The Africa Trade Network (ATN) and the Economic Justice Network (EJN) will host a two-day Pan African ‘Stop EPA peoples' forum' in Accra from June 29-30.
European Union (EU) and African experts are scheduled to meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this week to discuss key issues on the EU-Africa cooperation. Agendas for the meeting might include EU-ACP cooperation-related issues, progress on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) negotiations and African Union matters.
Felix Okatch (“Churches' stand on EPAs look suspicious,” The EastAfrican, May 28-June 3) wondered why churches should take a stand on a “complex matter” such as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and the countries of Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific.
Uganda will benefit from a $64,000 fund from the European Union aimed at supporting studies on the likely impact of international trade on its environment.
When European campaigners suggest that a free trade deal could harm the poor, they typically encounter a frosty reaction from civil servants in Brussels. Still, no one tries to muzzle them.
The United States currently has no FTAs with countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The Bush Administration is pursuing alternative means of strengthening its trade and investment relationships
with key African partners, including trade and investment framework agreements
(TIFAs), bilateral investment treaties (BITs), and a proposed trade and investment
cooperation agreement (TICA).
On the surface, the European Commission's argument on how it sees economic partnership agreements with developing countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions playing out, is compelling.
The recent trade concessions by the European Union to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries mean little in real terms, says an international non-governmental organisation.
The European Union celebrated its 50th birthday on March 25, since the signing of the founding Rome treaty, a pact originally comprising six Western European nations. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg sealed an economic co-operation that was meant to avoid future wars.
A regional network for horticultural associations will be launched in Nairobi this week. The network is part of the efforts being made in the region to ensure that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) meant to replace the current trading regime with the European Union are signed by December.
