ISDS Case Map
EPAs
Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and ACP countries (under the Cotonou Agreement)
At the initiative of the Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers'
Organizations of West Africa (ROPPA), leaders of three small farmers'
networks from ACP regions met in parallel to the Joint Parliamentary
Assembly in Vienna on 19 June 2006 to assess the process of
negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements between their regions and
the European Union.
The Dominican Republic, jointly with the other CARICOM (Caribbean) nations will propose to the ACP (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific) countries, creating structural adjustment funds to cover costs of the transition toward free trade, within the framework of negotiations with the European Union.
Pacific Island countries want the European Union to allocate additional resources to cover the costs of the regions adjustments when the Economic Partnership Agreement comes into effect.
The Pacific ACP Trade Ministers Meeting was held in Nadi, Fiji, on 19 and 20 June 2006.
Civil society groups from 12 Pacific countries meeting in Nadi, question what's in it for the Pacific in negotiations on a Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the EU.
Nana Akomea, Chairman of Ghana's Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, called for regional integration between ECOWAS countries as the way forward to economic development. An Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union and ECOWAS, as provided for in the Cotonou Agreement, would only cripple Ghana's feeble agricultural sector and other local industries.
Empirical studies conducted on the impact of the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) on Ghana has shown that the country is ill prepared and would face detrimental effects if it decides to join now.
You may be asking yourself: " what is an EPA? " Well, you are not alone. In fact I have just met with a European Member of Parliament who is no more au courant than you. And that’s worrying!
Below is an x-ray and analysis of how the EU-ACP EPA is capable of throwing to oblivion the development dimensions and objectives of Nigeria's National Economic and Development Strategy.
We call upon civil society organisations, social movements, and mass-membership organisations across the ACP and Europe to join the STOP EPAs campaign, and engage with their governments on the issues of ACP development in relation to the EU.
