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4 SADC members sign interim deal for EPAs

4 SADC members sign interim deal for EPAs
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Thursday, June 11, 2009 12:22:41 PM

FOUR countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have signed an interim deal for the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union in order to secure market access to Europe.

Currently, there are seven countries negotiating EPAs under SADC but only Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland signed an interim EPA and Mozambique just signaled its intention to sign the agreement in the near future, though its trade minister was unable to be in Belgium at the signing ceremony. Three other countries in the region, South Africa, Namibia and Angola, opted not to sign at this moment.

During the signing ceremony in Brussels, Belgium, EU trade commissioner Catherine Ashton said the signature of the agreement was an important step.

ìIt first of all guarantees market access to the European market for those countries that have signed today. More importantly, it is a vote of confidence in the process that we have put in motion to build a strong and lasting economic and trade relationship,” stated Commissioner Ashton.

And SADC EPA group chairperson and Botswana trade and industry minister Neo Moroka said the signing of the interim EPA marked a significant milestone in the trade negotiations.

“It ensures uninterrupted flow of SADC EPA goods into the EU market. There are still some outstanding issues to be resolved and these will be negotiated in parallel with negotiations towards a full EPA, covering services and investment,” stated Moroka.

The agreement would now have to be notified to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Angola as a Least Developed Country (LDC) maintains its duty-free quota-free access to the EU market under the 'Everything but Arms' (EBA) initiative while the South Africa-EU trade is governed by the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) signed in 1999 which allows preferential tariff rates for more than 90 per cent of South Africa's exports to the EU.

Estimates show that the EU represents SADC group's largest trading partner, and in 2008, total trade flows with the EU for the four countries which have now signed interim EPAs were almost 2.1 billion euros.

And the main exports to the EU for the four countries were aluminium, diamonds, sugar, beef and fish. Their main imports from the EU were mechanical and electrical machinery, fertilisers and vehicles.

Labels: EPAs, SADC

posted by MrK @ 11:22 AM