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What happened to the Cariforum-EU EPA?
Remember the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed in Barbados in October 2008? Despite the huge regional controversy that ensued after it was agreed, it is now almost impossible to find anything in the public domain about its present status, despite the fact that some of the deadlines for implementation have already passed. In reality the EPA…
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Editorial
What happens after a trade deal is signed? In theory, governments get down to the work of implementing the agreement. But in the case of the Cariforum-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, not much seems to be happening. Why does this matter? In part because the EU is in the process of forming free trade agreements with…
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News and Publications
European Commission adopts support package for ACP banana producing countries The European Commission has formally proposed a €190 million support package for ACP countries to help offset the impact of a WTO trade deal on bananas. The 17 March announcement by the European Commission follows the so-called Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas - a…
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EPA fisheries talks: An opportunity to tackle SPS measures
Although the scope of food safety measures affecting fish products has emerged as an area of great concern to the European Union’s former colonies now negotiating economic partnership agreements with their biggest export market, the negotiations hold promise for improvement. Fish is the most internationally traded food commodity, with tropical shrimp among the most valuable products.…
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Innovation and technology transfer: Prospects under the EU-ACP EPAs
Despite the indisputable role of innovation in productivity growth (and thus in enhancing development prospects), access to new technologies by developing countries (DCs) and least developed countries (LDCs) remains one of the most contested areas of international economic regulation. The persistent and deepening “innovation divide” between industrialized nations, where most research and…
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Potential impacts of alternative policy reform scenarios on the world cotton market
The WTO Doha Round could have a significant positive impact on world cotton prices and contribute to the expansion of cotton production and exports in developing countries. However, the likelihood of such an outcome is highly dependent on the depth of the subsidy reductions adopted by WTO members. The poor record of internal policy reforms…
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An African voice to fill African mouths: Improving the international food-aid regime
The lingering global financial crisis has been accompanied by a less publicised but in many respects more sinister crisis in Africa - a food crisis. The severe food shortage and regulatory lag in taking corrective action has led to efforts by farmers in Southern Africa to influence the manner in which food aid is…
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WTO Roundup
Brazil announces IP sanctions over cotton dispute Brazil announced that it intends to break US patents and intellectual property rights in retaliation against Washington’s failure to put an end to its illegal cotton subsidies. On 15 March Brazil published 21 proposed intellectual property sanctions. The move follows an announcement earlier in the month of 102 US…
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EPA Update
Central African Ministers provide instructions to EPA negotiators Central African ministers agreed on instructions for their negotiators in the regional EPA talks with the EU during a 22 February meeting in Doula.[i] They instructed EPA negotiators to negotiate 60 percent tariff liberalisation in goods within a transition period of 20 years (including a five-year…
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Resources
All references are available at: www.acp-eu-trade.org/library Banana Accompanying Measures: Supporting the Sustainable Adjustment of the Main ACP Banana-Exporting Countries to New Trade Realities, EC Communication to the Council and the European Parliament (COM(2010)101), 17 March 2010, ec.europa.eu Relations between the European Parliament and the Council - Common Commercial Policy: Draft Reply, Cover…
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Events
April 27-1 19th Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Tenerife, Spain 13-15 2nd inter-regional seminar of the Monitoring Regional Integration Project, Brussels, Belgium 14 Joint ESA-EC informal ministerial meeting between Commissioners De Gucht and Piebalgs of the EC and some ESA Ministers, Brussels, Belgium 22-23 Conference on the CARIFORUM-EU EPA One Year On:…