• Taxation for development in Africa: A shared responsibility
    Africa needs more effective, efficient and fairer taxation systems. As several African nations celebrate 50 years of independence in 2010, it is time for a continent that still relies too much on often volatile and unpredictable external flows to take a new look at taxes - a potential untapped source of billions of dollars.…
  • Editorial
    In the recent international economic context, marked by global crises and instability, budgetary and fiscal matters have gained greater prominence on the economic recovery and growth agenda. In the developing world, greater attention has been given to domestic resilience to external shocks, the type of integration to the global economy and the pursuit of sound…
  • News and Publications
    EC launches public consultation on future trade policy Following the ‘Europe 2020′ paper adopted by the European Commission in March this year, the Commission has now launched a broad public consultation on the future direction of EU trade policy. The consultation is intended to gather views from relevant stakeholders within the EU and in third countries…
  • Why enhance domestic resource mobilisation in Africa?
    Developing countries that have achieved and sustained high rates of growth have typically done so largely through the mobilisation of their domestic resources. Domestic resource mobilisation (DRM) at a significant level is essential to solidify ownership over development strategy and to strengthen the bonds of accountability between governments and their citizens. In effect, DRM provides…
  • Economic Partnership Agreements - How severe (and how urgent) is the fiscal challenge?
    The relations between the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU) are evolving dramatically with the phasing in of the Economic Partnership agreements (EPAs).[1] The EPAs are meant to cover a long list of topics but their cornerstone is trade relations. They replace the three decade-long non-reciprocal preferential treatment granted by…
  • Addressing the fiscal challenges of an EPA: Some preliminary considerations
    The debate around the impact of EPA tariff liberalisation on government revenues in ACP countries has been particularly controversial throughout the negotiations. A great deal of the opposition to EPAs has focused on the argument that the agreements are likely to have serious effects on government revenues, and therefore on social expenditures geared towards the…
  • Fiscal impact of the Economic Partnership Agreement in West Africa
    Will trade liberalisation bear an adjustment cost for ACP countries? If so, how much and who will pay for it? What are the strategies for reducing or even eliminating these costs? These are all sensitive questions facing ACP and European negotiators in the context of the negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). Qualitatively and quantitatively…
  • Mapping donors' involvement in the area of taxation and development: The case for better coordination and division of labour
    Strengthening tax systems and supporting developing countries’ efforts to increase domestic revenue is receiving growing attention within development cooperation. The declarations of Monterrey (2002) and Doha (2008) have emphasised the importance of domestic resource mobilisation for sustainable development. Numerous international and national initiatives and platforms have also emerged in recent…
  • WTO Roundup
    Brazil, US strike framework deal in cotton dispute Trade officials from Brazil and the United States reached a place-holder accord in June that delays until 2012 the imposition of trade sanctions in a protracted dispute over Washington’s cotton subsidies. The ‘framework’ deal that was announced on Friday outlines a new set of negotiations and consultations that will take…
  • EPA Update
    African regions seek common positions on EPAs The European and African Union (AU) Commissions held a meeting, attended for the first time by the African Regional Economic Communities, on 8 June where one of the issues discussed was the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The meeting followed an AU EPA negotiations coordination meeting on 20- 21 May,…
  • Events
    July 1                              Belgium takes over the Presidency of the European Union, Brussels, Belgium 4-7                          Thirty-first Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government, Jamaica 7-9                          EESC regional seminar of ACP-EU Economic and Social Interest Groups. Addis Ababa,…
  • Resources
    All references are available at: www.acp-eu-trade.org/library Trade Relevant Provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon. Implications for Economic Partnership Agreements, Koeb, E. and M. Dalleau, Discussion Paper 98, Maastricht: ECDPM, June 2010, www.ecdpm.org EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements: State of Play at June 2010, European Commission, State of Play at June 2010, 15 June 2010, trade.ec.europa.eu…