UNECA calls for consolidation of common African market creation

UNECA calls for consolidation of common African market creation
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday October 07, 2008 [04:00]

UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has observed that EPA negotiations have remained with a key challenge of how moves towards the creation of a common African market could be consolidated.

In a statement ahead of tomorrow’s continental workshop on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between European and African countries in Addis Ababa, UNECA stated that the EPA should consolidate instead of complicating plans to come up with a common African market.

Tomorrow’s gathering is a follow-up to the previous continental meetings on the EPAs held in Mombassa in 2005, Cairo in 2006, and Nairobi in 2007.

“African countries have for the last six years been engaged in two important tracks of trade negotiations. These are the Doha Round at the World Trade Organisation and the Economic Partnership Agreements negotiations with the European Union,” UNECA stated.

The Zambian government has already made its position known over the EPAs, saying it will not be pushed into signing the trade agreement as it was conscious that some previous commitments by the EU had not been fulfilled.

And civil society organisations in Zambia also urged the government not to sign a full EPA with the European Union if it will not have a development dimension.