• TNI June 2008 and Editorial
    The global food crisis has been making international headlines in recent weeks. Since the start of this year there has been a huge increase in the price of food, hitting the pockets of millions of the world’s poorest. This is particularly true in Africa where many incomes are already low. Here, sharp hikes for essential…
  • Glass half empty or half full? The move towards a comprehensive EPA
    European Union member states came together in May to agree to a series of so-called conclusions on the Economic Partnership Agreements with the ACP. During what is supposed to be the last General Affairs and External Relations Council before the interim EPAs are signed, ministers reconfirmed their desire to finalise comprehensive regional EPAs while getting…
  • Aid for Trade in the agricultural sector: reflections on a fruitful dialogue
    It has become obvious that agriculture and rural development need to be given a more prominent position on the international policy agenda. Rural development strategies should take market demands for agricultural products as well as other goods and services into account, which in most cases is a process that can be successful if led by…
  • Aid for Trade: key issues in the ACP agricultural sector
    The international community recognises that trade liberalisation per se does not automatically lead to economic growth and development. It is also broadly accepted that many ACP countries, especially least developed ACP countries, have not been able to fully benefit from enhanced market access opportunities because of non-competitive production capacity, lack of the necessary exporting infrastructure…
  • Trade and innovation in the EPAs: another step towards re-framing TRIPS
    CARIFORUM states are small, highly open, vulnerable, service economies with limited production capacities and high external debts. These economies have received significant support from Europe for many years—even though it is not the region’s major trading partner—through preferential market access arrangements for key commodity exports. Yet, challenges to the WTO compatibility of these arrangements…
  • Rules of origin for fish in interim EPAs
    The continuation of uninterrupted market access for fish and fish products (hereon ‘fish’) was a major motivation behind several countries’ initialling interim Economic Partnership Agreements (IEPAs) at the end of 2007. For those coastal and island ACP countries that act as sites of production for the processing of marine capture fisheries, a major point of…
  • In focus Understanding Kenya: post-election crisis, land and the interim EPA
    It is tempting to dismiss the violence that engulfed Kenya in the months of January and February 2008 as an unfortunate, though not totally unexpected, resurgence of African atavist ontological disposition. Indeed, this is what the Western media and analysts did with relish. Many argued that even though the mayhem was triggered by electoral fraud,…
  • Monitoring and evaluating the EPA in Mauritius: setting up mechanisms
    As the majority of African, Caribbean and Pacific states did not meet the December 31 2007 deadline to sign a full Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, several individual countries have provisionally signed interim agreements - one such being the developing country of Mauritius. Many developing and leastdeveloped countries in Africa—like Mauritius—need access…
  • WTO Roundup
    WTO talks intensify as new texts tabled WTO Members engaged in intense discussions at the end of May in a bid to consolidate the progress outlined in the release of the long-awaited negotiating texts on agriculture and industrial goods trade. Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer and his counterpart Don Stephenson, released the new proposals on agriculture and…
  • EPA Negotiations Update
    EU Council requests flexibility to address ACP-EPA concerns EU member states adopted conclusions on the EPAs during the EU External Relations Council in Brussels on May 27. These conclusions state that the main objective remains to achieve regional EPAs covering a wide scope of issues, which take into account the political choices, development priorities and administrative…