ISDS Case Map
EPAs
Economic Partnership Agreements between the EU and ACP countries (under the Cotonou Agreement)
According to the general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers, Joseph Goddard, workers in Barbados stand to be affected by the EPA negotiations in terms of government procurement, intellectual property rights, agriculture, the provision of decent work, fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, adding that there is the possibility of the agreements compromising the country's sovereignty.
First, a recap: the West has over the years used structural adjustment reforms to keep Africa economically weak and increase the continent's dependence on external loans.
The European Union is still insisting that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) whose implementation it is currently negotiating with four sub-regional groupings in Sub-Saharan Africa remain the only option for Africa's development.
Farmers organizations from West Africa and the European Union are convinced that the EPA talks will lead to an agreement which will be detrimental to family farming unless strong corrective measures are taken.
tralac recently held its annual conference in Cape Town on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) and their impact on African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.
Kenya and the European Union started negotiations for a new trade pact last week amid fears that the country could lose Sh9.5 billion.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson met with West African Ministers on 27 October to agree on the next phase of the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations between the two regions. Ministers agreed to start negotiations in 2006.
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries have differed with the European Commission (EC) on the development agenda of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) currently under negotiations.
Chief negotiators from the six Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions that are fashioning the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union met in London last week to compare notes and review strategies, and emerged saying that they had a better understanding of the way forward.
Farmers from across the Caribbean took to the streets of the St Lucian capital, Castries on Friday to picket top European Union negotiators, who were meeting on the island.
