Trade Negotiations Insights • Volume 7 • Number 8 • October 2008
To sign or not to sign? The Caribbean dilemma
by Sanoussi Bilal, ECDPM
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As the CARIFORUM members are getting ready to sign a comprehensive EPA with the European Union, two countries, Haïti and Guyana, are having last minute reservations. Haïti has concerns related to its liberalisation schedule, regional preferences towards the Dominican Republic and the availability of aid assistance. Guyana has even more fundamental concerns and has asked to sign a ‘goods only’ agreement. The EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, has rejected this latter option, proposing instead to go ahead with the signature, which most recently has been planned for October 15 2008, addressing any outstanding concerns within the framework of the Joint CARIFORUM-EU EPA Council as foreseen by the agreement.
Without prejudging the merits of Guyana’s reservations (shared to some extent by countries like Grenada and St. Lucia, although these two have refrained from threatening to reject the agreement), the timing is most unfortunate. Guyana’s authorities did not express disagreement with the regional position during the negotiations, waiting over nine months after the conclusion of the negotiations on a comprehensive EPA to the eve of its official signature to indicate their fundamental disagreement. Not surprisingly, this attitude has generated passionate reactions from both sides of the fence; at odds with its regional partners and apparently inconsistent with the regional integration process in CARICOM, the Guyanese position has been highly praised by EPA critics in the Caribbean and in Europe.
Beyond the specific case of Guyana, which might well be motivated by domestic concerns, the current situation raises some fundamental issues of direct relevance for Africa and Pacific countries. One key point is the need for each ACP country to remain actively engaged in the EPA negotiations of its region and to express their concerns and possible disagreement as early on in the negotiation process as possible, so as to infl uence the regional position. To undo an already agreed deal is generally a near impossible task. A second lesson is that a one-size-fits-all agreement may not be easily achieved, even at the regional level. The EU should be willing to show flexibility in its approach, without seeking to impose comprehensive agreements on countries that would prefer simple free trade agreements. If this can be envisaged in the Southern Africa or the Pacific EPA, why not in other regions like the Caribbean?
In the following article, Anthony Peter Gonzales provides a comprehensive analysis of CARIFORUM’s decision to sign the EPA and the reservations expressed by Haïti and Guyana. Patrick Gomez also tackles this issue through an examination of Guyana’s request to sign a ‘goods only’ agreement. Both pieces included in this issue of TNI, provide invaluable analysis on the countries concerns and perspective.
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