ACP-EU : 16-02-04(1)
JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY

Opening Remarks

16.02.2004

Mr Ramdien SARDJOE, Co-President of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Suriname), formally opened the 7th session by handing the floor to Mr Ato Dawit YOHANNES, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Mr Ato Dawit Yohannes

16.02.2004

After welcoming all the delegates to Addis Ababa, Mr Ato Dawit YOHANNES, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, stated that Ethiopia was determined to overcome all difficulties relating to poverty. He was certain that this week's JPA would be of assistance in this process. He hoped that all the work carried out this week would be conducted "in a friendly and conducive atmosphere" and that the delegates would return to Addis in the near future.

JPA Co-President, Mr Ramdien Sardjoe

16.02.2004

Mr Ramdien SARDJOE (Suriname), on behalf of the ACP Members, expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to his delegation in Ethiopia. Secondly, he expressed that, as this was his first official engagement, he wished to thank the delegates for the trust that they had put in him and especially from his region - the Caribbean by appointing him Co-President of the Assembly.

After the creation of the African Union, the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), he stated that this would serve as a new vision for Africa conceived by African's Heads of State. He also recalled that the African Heads of State had met in Kigali two days ago to implement the Peer Review mechanism which is a pivotal element of NEPAD. He also welcomed the commitment of African Heads of State who had demonstrated their willingness to make good governance a central element of the development strategy.

There could be no real prospect for sustainable development, he stated, in the absence of peace and stability. That is why the issue of conflict prevention and peaceful conflict resolution, he said, remained central to discussions. The report that the political committee would be submitting to the session focuses on conflict prevention and resolution, whose examination would afford the JPA the opportunity to contribute to the various initiatives underway.

On the new Rules of Procedure, he stated that this would help complete transformation of the JPA into a better Parliament suited to the new tasks assigned to it by the Cotonou Agreement. Three standing committees, he stated, have been set up, constituting an appropriate working framework for the actual involvement of parliamentarians in the ACP-EU partnership. In that vein, after the restoration of peace in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi, he stated that he was delighted at the promising prospect looming in other countries. He saluted the decisive strides made in Sudan and in Somalia with the latter announcing a return to state institution representatives of all components of the nation. He also appealed for a speedy solution to the continued crisis in Haiti in its bicentennial anniversary year of independence. He appealed to all forces to consider the superior interest of the nation, to put an end to the violence and embark on constructive political dialogue.

Mr Sardjoe also acknowledged and welcomed the initiatives taken by CARICOM, the OAS and the Governments of the United States of America and Canada to assist in resolving the conflict in Haiti.

Turning to the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), he stated at this time negotiations had either begun or were at an advanced stage of preparation in the ACP countries. He stated that the Assembly must ensure that development remained the central theme of the negotiations. Trade liberalisation alone would not suffice in achieving that goal. It must be accompanied by substantial improvement in production and supply capacities.

He recalled the declaration that the Assembly had adopted in Cape Town on the EPAs assigning the task of ensuring a permanent follow-up of the negotiations in order that the EPAs contribute effective to the fight against poverty. After the failure of the Cancun Ministerial Conference, the Co-President hoped that the WTO negotiations would be relaunched as soon as possible in the spirit of the Doha development programme whose cycle is due to be completed next year.

Turning to the Millennium Development Goals, he called for an assessment of their implementation. Much still has to be done to half the number of the poor in the world by 2015. The spread of AIDS in developing countries, as the WHO had pointed out, remained on the increase. He called on the international community to help stem the scourge of devastating diseases such as yellow fever, tuberculosis by facilitating access to all drugs regardless of the profit to enable every human being to enjoy the fundamental right to life. He also recalled that in the framework of the workshops this week, important themes such as food security and rural development, development and the private sector and health, especially AIDS, would be addressed.

On agriculture, he stated that ACP countries must develop ambitious agricultural products aimed primarily at meeting the food security needs of their populations. In that regard, he was delighted that the National Authorising Officers of the EDF have been invited to the next FAO regional conference for Africa to examine the procedures for implementing the Maputo decision regarding the African Heads of State's commitment to earmark at least 10 per cent of their national budgets for the agricultural sector.

On the private sector, the Co-President recognised that this sector was the engine for growth necessary for the creation of wealth and jobs and pointed out that the Cotonou Agreement had specifically established investment facility endowed with €2.2bn to sustain the development of the private sector in the ACP countries.

In conclusion, he hoped that during the Caribbean region's co-presidency, the issue of regional assemblies would be examined with a view to further strengthen intra ACP co-operation on the one hand, and co-operation with the EU on the other. He also once more expressed his gratitude to the government of Ethiopia for its support.

JPA Co-President Glenys Kinnock

16.02.2004

Glenys KINNOCK welcomed everyone to the 7th session of the ACP-EU JPA in Addis Ababa which means "New Flower". This city is the hub of pan-Africanism, she stated, the seat of both the African Union and of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. She also pointed out that this was one of only two African countries never to have been colonised. The JPA, she stated, was deeply honoured by the presence of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. She also welcomed the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Dr Amoako.

Turning directly to the economic situation in Ethiopia, Mrs Kinnock stated that, in the context of meeting the Millennium Development Goals, the country faced formidable challenges, poverty is deep and widespread and 46 per cent of the Ethiopian population live on less than one dollar a day. 10 per cent of Ethiopia's children, she pointed out, die before even reaching their first birthday. Mrs Kinnock recognised the efforts being made by the Ethiopian government to make child health a priority. The targets, set in the year 2000, would not be met unless there was concerted and focused action by all sides meaning "pro poor policies." On present trends few, if any, of the sub-Saharan countries were likely to achieve the goal of cutting the proportion of those living in absolute poverty by half by 2015. The question posed recently by the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for HIV-AIDS resonated with her. He asked, "how can this be happening when we can find over $200bn to fight a war on terrorism, but can't find the money to prevent children from living in terror?"

There are similar concerns in the Pacific and, increasingly, in the Caribbean. The WHO has urged rich countries to tackle AIDS with the same urgency as the Iraq crisis and the SARS outbreak, and Nelson Mandela has called for a "social revolution" against the disease, similar to the one against apartheid.

The biggest challenge, Mrs Kinnock stated, is implementation - how all parties get started in effectively delivering development to lift the poorest out of poverty. She hoped that all parties could agree that the sooner countries start treating education as a basic human right, and not something that was some kind of option competing with other budgetary needs, the better. She recalled that there would be agreement here that debt relief had to be part of the Compact. Under the HIPC initiative, total debt cancellation - 4 years after the GB provision of $100bn - stands at only $36bn. She also pointed out that Ethiopia's debts were unsustainable, amounting to nearly 150 per cent of GDP.

EPA negotiations

On the EPA negotiations, Mrs Kinnock stated that the ACP was naturally aware of the institutional, and other, pressures which they face as they negotiate bilateral, regional, and multi-lateral agreements. "The EPA negotiations have highlighted the relative weakness of the ACP's trading position, both with the EU and with the rest of the world. There are very substantial supply side constraints, there is little real regional integration and, of course, there exists a huge dependence on single commodities - commodities where global demand is low or declining, and for which global prices are falling."

In this context, Mrs Kinnock welcomed the Commission's announcement which is designed to reduce ACP vulnerability to price fluctuations affecting commodities such as cotton and coffee. The perceived potential with the EPAs have to meet the needs of ACP countries would ultimately depend upon the actual pace of liberalisation, as well as the safety nets, development assistance, capacity building and diversification opportunities which must run in parallel with the provisions, she declared.

The experience of the banana industry in the Caribbean, proved that the ability of these small island states to diversify into other products (in the short term) was very limited.

There would inevitably be increased competition in ACP countries from EU exports, and a loss of financial resources. Checks and balances would have to be in place, and assistance given to compensate for loss of earnings and to facilitate building new skills, particularly in the essential field of "value added" processing.

For cotton, for instance, ACP countries would need new technology, and support for building local entrepreneurship and for attracting foreign capital. Africa's cotton is high quality and in high demand in Europe, but the industry would need support to modernise. The reality is, also, that compliance with EU standards, as far as all commodities were concerned, on certification and labelling, would need a substantial investment in training.

Post-Cancun, cotton producers, and others, are waiting for and end to unfair subsidies.

The ideal would be to apply free trade rules, not only to these products that are of interest to the rich and powerful, but also to those products where poor countries have a proven competitive advantage.

On EDF budgetisation, she stated that this remained a contentious and difficult issue, and the protection and security of the funds within the Community budget is of prime concern. Mrs Kinnock's personal view was that, provided the problems raised by annual budgeting can be addressed satisfactorily, then the increased democratic accountability offered by European Parliamentary scrutiny would deliver a positive outcome for the ACP. In addition, the JPA should recognise that the political priorities of the European Union have changed since the original Lomé Convention.

NEPAD, the AU and the prospect of a Pan-African Parliament, offered new promise, she said. In Africa there will be increased focus on good governance, and strong and open institutions - in the full knowledge that these are the cornerstones of sustainable growth and prosperity.

The African Union has, for instance, recognised the importance of women's rights in our efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. The Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women is a significant step in the right direction, and will promote a need to address serious issues of discrimination against women.

The Protocol proposes a minimum marriage age of 18, and a ban on genital mutilation.

The AU's Peace and Security Council is a welcome and audacious innovation. The JPA, she said, looked forward to hearing from Commissioner Said DJINNIT tomorrow. Efforts to build peace all over Africa were bearing fruit, and the African Union would have enormous influence. Mrs Kinnock welcomed the European Commission's proposal to use 1 per cent of all development assistance to create a €250 million euro fund to sustain the peace and conflict resolution efforts of the African Union.

It was, of course, of great concern that fighting continues in Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Eastern Congo and Western Sudan, and the background to the tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea remained unresolved. The suffering in Zimbabwe continues to be deeply worrying. Mrs Kinnock had recently met Archbishop Pius Ncube, who, with courageous outspoken criticism in defence of the rights of the people of Zimbabwe, said to her that "his heart bleeds for his country".

In the Caribbean, all parties watched with horror the events unfolding in Haiti. The region would maintain its efforts to deal with the instability which looked likely to persist, as President Aristide was apparently determined to remain in office until February 2006 when his term officially ends, and as the opposition rejected elections until he resigns.

In the Pacific - only a few months ago, the Solomon Islands were on the verge of civil war. Now, 4,000 weapons have been handed in and a number of notorious ethnic militants have been arrested. She stated that she knew that the Prime Minister was keen to have EU support for efforts to build peace and security. Also, on a very positive note - after the turmoil and the ensuing instability after the coup in 2000 in Fiji, the situation had improved significantly. So much so that last November the EU resumed development aid without restrictions.

In conclusion, the home grown and home owned development was increasingly taking root, participation was improving, and dialogue was opening up. She congratulated a number of ACP governments which have, in fact, included parliamentary capacity building in their National Indicative Programmes. Mrs Kinnock urged ACP parliamentarians to press for their enormous needs to be a priority.

The UN's Human Development Report confirmed, she said, that economic growth alone would not provide the answers. Malnutrition and illiteracy stood as both causes and symptoms of poverty, and without addressing them the poverty goals would not be met.

The statistics were shaming, and the shocking truth was that the poor are getting poorer. Leaders in rich and poor countries alike needed to take poverty more seriously. The struggle was to offer peace and human dignity to all citizens. The fact was that any serious calculation shows that the Millennium Development Goals would actually be achieved for less than 1 per cent of GNP from the rich world. The bottom line, she said, has to be that poor countries must implement pro-poor reforms, and rich countries must provide more support.

After September 11th, many of us understood that we had to build a consensus around the view that poverty is a problem for the whole world.

Mrs Kinnock ended by saying "Business as usual simply won't do."

Mr Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister

16.02.2004

Mr Meles ZENAWI, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia, warmly welcomed all participants to Addis Ababa and stated that it was an honour for his country to host the JPA. He stated that the EU-ACP partnership was indeed a unique partnership between a group of developed and developing countries and pointed out that the EU had been providing development grants to the developing members of the partnership for several decades and also provided preferential market access to them. The basis of partnership, he stated, had continued to evolve and could not but evolve in response to global developments. What happens in one part of the global village cannot but directly affect the interests of inhabitants in the other as the events of September 11 had shown. Globalisation implied both change and continuity, he stated. Continuity in the sense that all parties are not undoing this venerable partnership and starting afresh. The issues of peace and stability issues of governance and democracy both within and among nations had become issues of concern to the EU-ACP partnership.

While there was no denying the generosity of development assistance that the EU had given to ACP countries, all the studies that have been carried out on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals suggested that a dramatic increase in development assistance was required to achieve the goals that all parties had set.

The EU-ACP partnership must evolve in the direction of increasing amounts and quality of development assistance. On the WTO negotiations, he stated that the global trading regime was neither free nor fair and that a freer and, more importantly, a fairer trading regime was vital. While the EU had traditionally provided preferential access to its markets to ACP countries, the position it took in Cancun had been a source of disappointment for developing countries.

Effective implementation of NEPAD would imply not only the evolution of the EU-ACP partnership but also a practical commitment of all parties to the partnership to fulfil their obligations. He also stressed the asymmetry in the ACP-EU partnership.

To conclude, he stated that the Joint Assembly would be instrumental in evolution of the EU-ACP partnership towards the ideals of NEPAD and similar initiatives.

Economic Partnership Agreements

EPAs - problems and prospects

Harlem DÉSIR (PES, France) and Sharon Hay-Webster (Jamaica)
Report on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA): problems and prospects
Debate :16.02.2004

Harlem DÉSIR (PES, France), co-rapporteur, stated that the EPAs would be the biggest ever change to trading conditions between the EU and ACP countries. Due to the failure of the WTO Cancun Ministerial Conference, there was greater pressure for EU/ACP co-operation and, in particular, inter-regional integration. He stated that the EPA negotiations should be seen as a positive opportunity rather than a threat.

The primary goal of the EPAs, he stated, should be to facilitate development. This would require the opening up of markets, capacity building in ACP countries as well as increased diversification. Negotiations, he said, would not be easy and temporary sectoral protection mechanisms may be necessary. The ultimate aim was to eradicate poverty in ACP countries and address the problems of the supply side in their economies. The EPAs, he stated, were not an end in themselves.

On the actual resolution to be voted on Thursday, he stated that he had come to a compromise position in order to avoid a vote by separate Houses which, he said, was contrary to the spirit of this Assembly. In particular, he said, the resolution stressed that the EPA agreements would have to be compatible with WTO rules and secondly that they should allow for special differentiated agreements, if necessary. He also said that the Commission would have to define reciprocity and would be ultimately responsible for the elimination of trade barriers. He also stated that the EU should increase its quotas on commodities from ACP countries.

Mrs Sharon HAY WEBSTER (Jamaica), co-rapporteur of the resolution, pointed out that 49 out of the 78 ACP countries were least developed countries. 33 were small island states and 15 were land locked. The ACP region has a population of 500 million people. The EU/ACP, she said, would have to demonstrate their collective will in the following areas:

Firstly, the objective should be to alleviate poverty; secondly, there should be an emphasis on economic growth; thirdly, to concentrate on building capacity in ACP countries and fourthly, the requirement for sustainable development and diversification. She stressed that EPA agreements and Cotonou were about quality of life for over 500 million people and that both sides had shared responsibilities.

EU Commissioner for External Trade, Mr Pascal Lamy

Commissioner Pascal LAMY stated that he shared much of what the two rapporteurs had said. He said he was slightly surprised by certain criticisms that the Commission had simply ignored the pre-occupations expressed by the ACP. He stated that for more than one year, the Commission had held intense discussions with ACP countries and had not excluded any issue.

The Commissioner stated that the EPAs would be instruments for development. The objective of the Commission was to make sure that trade and development assistance were mutually reinforcing. The problem of development for the ACP would not be solved, he said, by means of financial assistance. The ACP countries would have to set up an environment conducive to the activities of the private sector since this was an engine for the effective and long-term economic development. The main purpose of the EPAs would thus be to contribute to the ACP "good governance" in trade and related sectors.

Commissioner Lamy stated that reinforcement of regional integration was at the heart of the EPAs. ACP markets, he said, were too narrow to benefit from economies of scale. In addition, there were too many obstacles to regional trade for investors. As to North/South development, he said this should be a second step and stated that what made EPAs special was the combination of both South/South and North/South integration. EPAs were first and foremost about building and consolidating regional ACP markets and only then, in a second step, they would be instruments to define the relations between these regions and the European Union.

On the progressive production of reciprocity, he stated that by reducing the cost of imported raw materials and equipment, liberalisation would reduce ACP cost of production and it would improve the capacity to attract investment. Prices would decrease and consumers would increase purchasing power, demand and savings. Reciprocity, he said, would need to be accompanied by adequate support measures.

On the so-called Singapore issues, he stated that he agreed with the ACP that these should not be at the top of the agenda. On the financing of development, he stated that all parties need to make sure that development systems reinforced EPAs and vice versa. He stated that the main difficulty was to ensure that available funds were rapidly dispersed. He also pointed out that very soon there would be a mid-term review of the indicative programmes. He said the challenge was now to optimise existing financial resources and this was why the Commission had set up task forces to prepare the regions, whose role would be to ensure the link between EPA negotiations and co-operation policy.

On multilateralism, the Commissioner stated that the main priority was to conclude the Doha development agenda. He stated that as long as the political will existed, then it should be possible to reach an agreement on modalities during the months of March/April. In order to ensure the dynamics of this process, the Commission should develop alliances with all partners interested in the success of the negotiations, he said. The Commissioner stated that this was what he was doing by intensifying the dialogue with colleagues in the G20 and the G90. Finally, he stated that although the 2008 deadline may seem distant, all parties must get to work as quickly as possible. He stated that he was happy that 2004 would be a year in which the anxieties and hesitations over negotiations would have disappeared and that all energies would concentrate in pursuing the core of the negotiations.

Mr Jayen Cuttaree, Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Regional Cooperation (Mauritius)

Mr CUTTAREE stated that the second phase of the EPA negotiations had been launched. He stated that the recent meeting in Mauritius had been relatively successful because it had spelt out timelines for the ACP/EU negotiations on EPAs. Specifically on the transitional period of ten years, he questioned whether this should be reviewed given that, in similar agreements, 15 year transitional agreements apply. He also stated that the EPA agreements would have to concentrate on supply side problems and he agreed with the Commissioner that markets would have to be built up before they were opened up. He also stated that it may be necessary to introduce flanking measures to support any loss in revenue.

On debt, he agreed with Glenys KINNOCK's (PES, UK) comments that this issue was extremely critical and that the issue of debt relief would have to be urgently addressed by the Commission.

As to additional resources, he stated that the EDF would not suffice in terms of potential loss of revenue resulting from the EPA negotiations and warned that at the end of the day when conclusions had been finalised, the EPA agreements could result in a net loss for ACP countries. He also pointed out that 40 out of the 78 ACP countries were LDCs and the remaining 38 were on the fringe of being LDCs. He stated the need to provide sustainable growth and structural transformation and welcomed the JPA's contribution to this.

Specifically on the EPAs, the Minister stated that they would have to take account of all multilateral trading laws including the WTO. He welcomed the fact that new chairs had been selected for the WTO committees thus allowing for the trade round to continue.

On cotton, he welcomed the Commission's efforts to address this issue. On the Singapore issues, the Minister stated that there was a irrevocable trend to unbundling and that some issues would remain in the forefront while other remain in the background.

Turning to enlargement, he said that the 10 new EU Member States would be beneficial for EU/ACP relations because it gave access to a larger market. In particular, reform was needed on the pricing structure of sugar, bananas, beef and veal and that the Everything But Arms agreement preferences would have to be preserved. He also called for the review of the Cotonou agreement to be put back to 2006.

Finally, he stated that the first phase of the EPA negotiations were not binding and that only a joint declaration had been made by both sides.

Other Speakers

Konrad SCHWAIGER (EPP/ED, Germany) wanted to know what problems Ethiopia faced in increasing its trade with the EU. The Prime Minister of Ethiopia had told him that the problem was linked to manufactured products and agricultural products, the latter being in competition with products from Yemen. The situation would have been difference if the EU had accepted the 36 per cent reduction in customs duties for agricultural products and for export subsidies. Mr Schwaiger was of the opinion that the resolution presented the partnership in a very pessimistic fashion. Furthermore, he stated that economic development and strengthening of democracy should go side by side. He welcomed the creation of the European Court on Human Rights and encouraged Africans "to work to create an area of peace and liberty, as was the case in Europe." By establishing a large market, it would be possible to facilitate the economies of scale and it becomes less necessary to import products from industrialised countries. In that light, it was also necessary to provide technical assistance for production for ACP countries. This aid must come from African countries themselves also and NEPAD was the best example of this.

Dr Rob DAVIES (MP, South Africa) was not satisfied with the compromise resolution. The ACP, he said, preferred the text of the resolution adopted in the Economic Committee on Saturday. The ACP regretted the fact that tensions within the European Parliament had not allowed all sides to stick to this text. The JPA must promote development and not aim to liberalise trade. It was necessary to have real access to markets and, for this reason, the ACP countries requested the removal of technical obstacles which prevent trade. They also insist on their rights to maintain their own services of public interest.

Joseph KAMOTHO (MP, Kenya) called for a reform of the trade rules of the WTO. The majority of the EPAs would be negotiated by least developed countries. and these countries were in a position to ask for non-reciprocal preferences in the WTO.

Richard HOWITT (PES, UK) expressed his doubts on the various attitudes on the European side. As he put it, do we really want development? Why do certain regions have priority? Are there secret negotiations? Civil society, he said, feared being marginalised. The JPA requested, he said, parliamentary control of the negotiations. He was of the opinion that ACP countries could lose income. The manufacturing sector, he stated, risked collapsing in West Africa following EPAs. He also regretted that the negotiations did not cover agriculture.

As to the resolution, Mr Howitt did not want the JPA to repeat the mistake made in Rome where the resolution on Cancun was rejected.

Kilontsi MPOROGOMYI (MP, Tanzania) recalled that only 25 per cent of EDF funds had been released. Moreover, what the EU was proposing in relation to access to markets within the EPA negotiations was no more favourable than existing preferences. He therefore questioned what the EPA could bring to least developed countries.

Didier ROD (Greens/EFA, France) stated that he disagreed with the resolution as it was adopted on Saturday in the Economic Affairs Committee. The compromise amendments negotiated following the threat of a vote by separate Houses only weakened the text.

Concerning the trade negotiations, the EU had taken a dogmatic position where the argument was that trade reduced poverty. But, at the end of the day, the richest countries were becoming richer and the poorest countries were becoming poorer. Mr Rod stated that the economic impact studies should be completed before the signature of the EPAs. He was in favour of the principle of non-reciprocity and recalled the fact that this existed for debt. In fact, debt servicing was seven times greater than development aid. In this sense, he said developing countries were, in fact, giving money to rich countries. He recalled that protectionism was necessary for the European economy to develop. Mr Rod was of the opinion that the Singapore issues risked destroying the ability of developing countries to progress economically. Finally, he opposed the liberalisation of services.

David MATONGO (MP, Zambia) regretted the fact that trade became before development. He asked how the loss in revenue due to the disappearance of customs duties would be compensated. He criticised European subsidies on agricultural and asked whether funds would be available to help ACP states to meet the sanitary standards of the EU.
Mr Sergio RIBEIRO (GUE/NGL, Portugal) recalled that the partnership was based on an unequal footing. It was not possible to promote one single model of the market without considering other solutions. Since Cancún, there had been several changes and he hoped that the situation would evolve towards greater mutual respect. He criticised the European call for liberalisation of essential services. The introduction of competition that the EU wanted to introduce in the provision of services would only mean that these services would not survive. It was necessary to combat social inequality and regional asymmetry.

Mothetjoa METSING (MP, Lesotho) enquired about the access to the European market of products originating from Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. These states, he recalled, were members of a free trade area with South Africa and the European Union.

Barry FAURE (MP, Seychelles) welcomed the statements by Mrs Kinnock and Minister Cuttaree in favour of debt cancellation. According to Mr Faure, the EPAs could not provide satisfactory results if debt was too great. Debt would have to be cancelled before the EPAs could become operational. As to the impact studies on the EPAs. The 2003 mid-term report had underlined the terrible consequences of trade liberalisation in West Africa stating that it had led to the collapse of a large part of the manufacturing sector. He therefore questioned whether it was not appropriate for the Commission to rethink its strategy..

Dominique SOUCHET (IND, France) stated that the impact of future EPA agreements could have a severe effect on customs revenue, especially for Ethiopia. It would be necessary to put in place further agreements to compensate ACP countries, especially for up and coming industries. He also stressed the importance of the asymmetrical nature of the EU/ACP agreement.

The delegate from MALI welcomed the fact that Commissioner Lamy was present. However, he stated that during the 1980s and 1990s the EU had asked ACP countries to structurally adjust and respect the wishes of the World Bank and the IMF.The EU had also called on these countries to become more democratic and liberalise their markets. Now that this had been done, he stated, it had only led to a worsening of the situation and impoverishment. He was concerned that EPAs could make the situation even worse. He wanted to know what additional resources would be available to compensate for potential loss of income and what was the EU's negotiating status post Cancún.

Angelo BEDA (Sudan) stated that European leaders had privately admitted to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia that the world system of trade was unfair and that the EU and US had simply provided alibis for each other. Mr Beda was also concerned about the lack of technical knowledge in ACP countries and whether money was available outside of the EDF to improve technology in developing countries. He suggested that the European Investment Bank could deal directly with the private sector, if necessary.

Bashir KHANBHAI (EPP/ED, UK) stated that the Joint Parliamentary Assembly was not the venue for political infighting and that both John CORRIE (EPP/ED, UK) and Konrad SCHWAIGER (EPP/ED, Germany) had played crucial roles in assisting ACP countries. He also stated that the European Parliament resolution on the WTO was first put forward by the EPP/ED group. The EPA negotiations primary objective, he stated, was about the building of regional markets to promote sustainable development and poverty eradication. In 1976 ACP imports to the EU represented 6.7 per cent of all EU imports. In 2002 this had fallen to 3 per cent. He also stressed the importance of transforming ACP economies from the simple exporting of raw materials to the actual exporting of final products. ACP countries, he stated, should be able to produce products that EU citizens want to buy at the right price and to high quality standards. The EU, he said, should help ACP countries with this process.

The delegate from SIERRA LEONE stated that he supported the reform process in ACP countries if it would be beneficial for all sides. He stated that the EU and the ACP had mutual interests and both sides should try to exploit this crossover. Sierra Leone, he said, had just emerged from ten years of senseless war and much of industry had collapsed. He also called on the Commission to bear in mind each individual country and not go for a one-size fits all policy.

Karin JUNKER (PES, Germany) supported the fact that the two rapporteurs had managed to come to a compromise position with the various political groups and the ACP countries. EPAs, she said, should concentrate on appropriate restructuring and the EU should focus on the vicious circle of over production. The EU's efforts in this area, she said, had been "shamefully inadequate." She said on field visits in Ethiopia she had seen projects between Ethiopia and China and Ethiopia and Japan but she wondered where the EU- Ethiopia projects were.

Robert GOEBBELS (PES, Luxembourg) stated that 93 per cent of all foreign direct investment had been directed to primarily 30 relatively well developed countries. Economic growth, he said, could not happen overnight and there was a requirement to see a better transfer of foreign know-how into developing countries. He stated that all countries that had entered the WTO had seen economic growth and encouraged all developing countries to liberalise markets under controlled conditions.

Walter FRANCOIS (MP, St Lucia) questioned the Commissioner on whether lower tariffs and liberalised markets would necessarily lead to increased output. There may be an increase in output but he questioned who would ultimately benefit from this. He also suggested that the Commission examine more closely the models of liberalisation of Japan and Singapore and that during the debate there had been a lack of quantitative assessment. Development, he said, was not only about economic growth but a matter of social and cultural progress.

Mr Youssouf Moussa DAWALEH (MP, Djibouti) addressed both the sanitary and phyto-sanitary issues relating to trade. He stated that the EU's decision to stop some imports from ACP countries had been taken on unfair grounds and many countries were suffering from this. The ACP countries, he recognised, needed the EU but the EU also needed the ACP countries and called for a genuine transfer of technology know-how from the EU to the ACP.

The delegate from MAURITIUS stated that all parties agreed that the EPAs should have a development dimension and a poverty eradication dimension. He questioned whether there was a need first to develop regional markets and then later to open up these markets to the EU. He gave the example of Ethiopia where products lay in one part of the country, and due to lack of transport infrastructure, could not be exported. He also stated that the transition period for ACP countries was too short.

Statement by Mr Sukhdev SHARMA, Member of the Economic and Social Committee of

Mr Sukhdev SHARMA 's speech focused on three issues:

Consolidating the links between trade and development;
Integrating social and environmental concerns;
involving non-state-actors in the monitoring of the negotiations.

On consolidating the links between trade and development, he said that the delegates at the ECOSOC meeting had voiced a number of worrying concerns relating to the effects of trade liberalisation on the markets and economies and called for provisions which would enhance both trade and the levels of development at the national and regional level.

As to the integration of social and environment concerns, he said that delegates had repeatedly called for the EPAs to be backed by measures and financial support to strengthen human resources for example, vocational training for workers. They also highlighted the negative consequences on public resources on the abolition of customs tariffs.

Finally, on the role of non-state actors in the monitoring of the EPA negotiations, he stated that non-state actors could and would like to play an important complementary role as was officially recognised in the Cotonou Agreement.

Responses to the debate

Responding to the debate, Minister Jayen CUTTAREE stressed the importance of dialogue. Sometimes, he said, a lot of heat was generated at joint meetings but he recognised the EU's commitment to the development of ACP countries. He stated that the EU and the ACP should try to have a joint position vis-à-vis the WTO negotiations and this could only be achieved through open dialogue. He also was disappointed that there had not been greater investment in ACP countries except those countries which had extractive industries for minerals.

In his response to the debate, Commissioner LAMY tackled many subjects. First, on the question of transitional periods, reciprocity and asymmetry, he stated that the ten-year figure for transition period was not "sacred" and in any case it was not a figure that originated from the Commission. He stated that it would be possible for the ten years to be exceeded but there was always the constraints of the WTO to be borne in mind. However, he recalled that the EU/ACP block represented two-thirds of all seats on the WTO.

On additional resources, the Commissioner stated that they were not necessary and neither were they available. However, he stated that funds not spent in the 8th and 9th EDFs provided a certain margin for manouvre but these funds were restricted due to the strict regulatory context associated with public funds.

On debt, the Commissioner said that this was a question primarily for the Member States and was not a competence of the EU.

As to agricultural trade, the Commissioner stated that total liberalisation was not in the interest of ACP countries and he cited the example of coffee where liberalisation had led to difficulties for ACP countries.

Commissioner Lamy stated that there were funds available for the transfer of technical know-how from EU countries to the ACP countries.

With regard to transparency of the EPA negotiations, he stated that the Commission's impact studies were available to all on the Commission's trade website. As to enlargement, he saw no indication that this represented bad news for ACP countries since it provided for a potentially larger market. He also disagreed with those that had advocated that intra-regional trade and the elimination of tariff barriers was not a precondition for increased North/South trade. The NEPAD Heads of State and government had stated that they were in favour of increased intra-regional trade.

Funding was also available, the Commissioner recalled, for sanitary and phytosanitary programmes at a bilateral and regional level. The EU, he said, would not accept a lowering of standards and the European Parliament, in particular, would not accept any derogation on the quality of imports. On services of general interest, Commissioner Lamy stated that in cases where services were provided to a satisfactory level, there would be no threat of liberalisation.

As to Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland, he recalled that these countries had signed a customs union with South Africa and that South Africa had signed a free trade agreement with the EU. As to the budgetary impact of the EPA negotiations, he stated that there were two main points: first ACP internal trade and secondly, ACP/EU trade liberalisation. He stated that even before the EPAs had been conceived, the ACP had been considering increased intra-regional trade.

He made a clear declaration that ACP countries would not be in a less favourable economic situation after the conclusion of the EPA negotiations.

In her response to the debate, Mrs HAY-WEBSTER welcomed the statement from Commissioner Lamy that no country would be in a less favourable situation post-EPAs. She welcomed the fruitful discussion and encouraged the delegates (as she put it, mostly men) not to let the testosterone go to their head and to remember that these resolutions would have an impact on the daily life of over a half a million people.

Mr DÉSIR, responding to the debate, stated that the Commissioner Lamy had cleared up many points for him but he also questioned who would benefit the most from the EPAs. He also recognised the importance of a strong public sector, giving the example of France where OECD countries had criticised the large public sector but he pointed out that France had one of the highest records of foreign direct investment. He stated that this was due to the fact that France had invested heavile in transport infrastructure, education and health.

Annexes

List of ACP Countries – Africa, Caribbean, Pacific
South Africa	Madagascar
Angola	Malawi
Antigua and Barbuda	Mali
Bahamas (The)	Marshall Islands
Barbados	Mauritania
Belize	Mauritius
Benin	Micronesia Federal States of
Botswana	Mozambique
Burkina Faso	Namibia
Burundi	Nauru
Cameroun	Niger
Cape Verde	Nigeria
Central African Republic	Niue
Chad	Palau
Comores	Papua New Guinea
Congo (Brazzaville)	Rwanda
Congo (Kinshasa)	Saint Kitts and Nevis
Cook Islands	Saint Lucia
Côte d'Ivoire	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Djibouti	Solomon Islands
Dominica	Samoa
Dominican Republic	Sao Tome and Principe
Equatorial Guinea	Senegal
Eritrea	Seychelles
Ethiopia	Sierra Leone
Fiji	Somalia
Gabon	Sudan
Gambia	Suriname
Ghana	Swaziland
Grenada	Tanzania
Guinée (République de )	Togo
Guinea-Bissau	Tonga
Guyana	Trinidad and Tobago
Haïti	Tuvalu
Jamaica	Uganda
Kenya	Vanuatu
Kiribati	Zambia
Lesotho	Zimbabwe
Liberia