ISDS Case Map
EPAs
Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and ACP countries (under the Cotonou Agreement)
The news that the ministers of the East African Community (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) are on the verge of signing an economic partnership agreement with the European Union has been received with mixed reactions by government officials from these very same countries.
Civil Society Organizations now say that the East and Southern African negotiators and civil servants who attended the Economic Partnership Agreements meeting in Brussels, Belgium were bullied into a midnight deal with the European Union.
The European Union Commissioner for Trade, Mr. Peter Mandelson was quoted recently as saying that Nigeria is "sitting like an elephant in the middle of the road."
Kenya has been exempted from signing the Economic Partnership Agreement for another year. Economic analysts say the deal is good for Kenya in the short term but could become oppressive in the future.
The European Union has made an interim trade deal with east African countries, which will replace preferential tariff agreements which are due to expire this year, Kenya announced.
The EU has agreed to establish a framework that will ensure trade is not interrupted between January and December next year, thus giving a one-year extension before a new pact has to be reached.
Leading Caribbean nationals have made a stirring plea to Caribbean Community Heads of Government to speedily move for postponement of the year-end deadline given by the European Union for this region to sign an Economic Partnership Agreement.
There is an old saying: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life". Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are the equivalent of Europe telling the African fisherman that if he does not give them his fishing net (tariff flexibility) he will not be able to sell any more fish to them (fish exports). In return for the fishing net, Europe promises a European fish (aid) that the fisherman has to apply for and wait for over two years.
As negotiations intensify for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the Caribbean and European Union before year end, there are now growing calls for the "draft" accord to be made public before the region's governments sign on to such a deal.
A final make or break negotiating session is expected in the Caribbean at the end of November.
