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Two thousand and nine will not be remembered as a particularly auspicious year in international relations. Most famously, the UN climate change conference missed its target of achieving a binding, international agreement on climate change, with an end-of-year meeting in Copenhagen that further strained the already fragile levels of trust that exist among governments on this issue. In the field of international trade, the state of play also disappoints. At a WTO ministerial meeting, also held in December, governments largely avoided the elephant in the room: the Doha Development Round, which is lumbering into its ninth year.
Nor will 2009 be seen as a hallmark year in the ACP-EU EPA negotiations. The interim agreements of 2007-2008 have not yet been replaced by full agreements. While several interim EPAs have been signed in 2009, most have yet to be notified to the WTO and implemented. Moreover, several countries have continued to postpone the signing of their interim agreements concluded with the EU. What are the obstacles? There are many, of course, which TNI has highlighted over the years. But perhaps the most unsettling is remarked on by Darlan F. Marti, one of our guest contributors this month: there is “great convergence over the fact that there continues to be a huge trust gap in the negotiations”. We would add that there is also an under appreciation of the potential development benefits of an EPA.
Does 2010 offer better prospects? There is some reason for optimism. For one, the EU’s new trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, says he is committed to concluding EPAs that give priority to promoting development in ACP countries. He also says he is confident that the Doha Round can be tied up in the next year or two, resulting in an agreement that fulfils its development agenda. And there is a strong hope in both the ACP regions and Europe that this year will witness the signing of some more interim EPAs and the conclusion of some new EPAs, including at the regional level. But time will tell.
As for TNI, we will continue to shine a spotlight on the Economic Partnership Agreements, the processes of regional economic integration more broadly, and the trade and development nexus.
TNI’s last issue of 2009 featured a special series of articles on the links between trade and environmental policies. In this first issue of 2010, we pick up where we left off, with a guest feature on environmental provisions in EPAs, authored by Beatrice Chaytor, a Programme Officer at International Lawyers and Economists Against Poverty.
Next, we explore the issue of services liberalisation from the perspective of the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, with an essay by Narainduth Boodhoo, Chairperson of the ESA Negotiating Group on Trade in Services.
What would the WTO draft modalities mean for trade in sugar? Amani Elobeid, an international sugar and ethanol analyst with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at Iowa State University, provides some answers based on her recent study on the subject.
Darlan Marti provides some much needed perspective on the EPA negotiations by reflecting on the 17 essays authored by trade experts and senior policy-makers which are brought together in the recently published E-book, “Updating Economic Partnership Agreements to Today’s Global Challenges.”
Finally, the sticky issue of technical barriers to trade is given frank consideration by Achille Bassilekin, Deputy Head of the ACP Geneva Office, in an article that provides concrete proposals to overcome the challenges for ACP countries resulting from the abundance of technical rules and standards that must be followed in order to access the EU market.
As always, the editorial team at ECDPM and ICTSD welcomes feedback or offers to contribute articles. These can be directed to Damon Vis-Dunbar at dvisdunbar@ictsd.ch.
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