Ken Ukaoha
14 August 2007
opinion
Abuja — On July 16, the West African Ministers of Trade, Finance, Economic Planning and Regional Integration met under the auspices of the Ministerial Monitoring Committee (MMC) to discuss the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations between West Africa and the European Community.
The meeting, held in Accra (Ghana), was chaired by H.E. Mr. Mamadou Sanou, Burkina Faso Minister of Commerce, Cottage Industry and Enterprise Promotion, who is the current Chairman of the EPA Ministerial Monitoring Committee. It was preceded by the ECOWAS Experts meeting had in attendance the President of the ECOWAS Commission - Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas. Among the important issues deliberated upon include the report of the Experts meeting which was presented by its Chairman, Mr. Seriba Ouattara, Director General of Trade of Burkina Faso.
The report dealt with conclusions arrived at by ECOWAS Committee of Experts such as: the status of execution of the MMC recommendations of 6 October and 30 November 2006; status of the preparation of the EPA negotiations, strengthening of the regional integration process, drafting of the EPA text, the region's approach to the opening of its market to the EU, EPA support measures; involvement of other ACP-EU stakeholders in the EPA process, and the aid for trade initiative. The Ministers exchanged views on the issues referred to above as contained in the Experts recommendations and report. They considered their political and economic dimensions and their implications for the development policies of the States of the region and for the member States' role in the changing international economic environment.
On regional integration, the Ministers took note of the preparation by both Commissions, of regional competition and investment policies and recommended that the policies be submitted to the ECOWAS decision-making bodies for adoption, in accordance with the organisation's procedures. They further noted that the implementation of the EPA would entail fiscal reforms, and requested member States that have not done so yet, to take necessary measures to put in place the Value Added Tax (VAT). These decisions showcased the Ministers' insight and foresight to the effect that despite all internal and external pressure, lobby and entreaties, they stood their ground to insist that what West Africa needs at this time are harmonised regional policy frameworks on Competition and Investment.
It would be recalled that the EU has been pressuring and insisting that negotiations on these two items are inevitable for guarantee of development in through the EPA. Competition and Investment are part of the four trade related items popularly known as the Singapore issues (the others are government procurement and trade facilitation). Many from the region have been calling for ECOWAS to succumb to pressure from the EU, forgetting that many member-countries do not even have competition and investment policies; and no common framework on these items. With what technical outlay and agenda will such negotiations be carried out, and since there is no common framework, where and how would such agenda arise? If the region does not have a framework on this at home, what is the rationale or justification for this basis of thinking that negotiating them with an external partner is not only a possibility but a catalyst for development? So, if the region comes on to negotiate them at the EPA agenda, what the proponents of this move should note is that it would only amount to the region exhibiting her ignorance and her level of inconsistency thereby placing the region as an entity that appears unserious. This issue has come up as a recurring decimal with hot debates at almost every ECOWAS Ministerial for the past three years. Despite the fact that ECOWAS negotiators have consistently informed the EC that they do not the mandate to negotiate these items on the EPA, the EC on the other hand has consistently insisted that these items are sine qua non to development.
In fact, at a point, the EC has reportedly threatened that there would be no EPA without these items. If EPA is for development and poverty reduction, there should be a burden of consideration on the part of the EC to sympathise with a region which says it does not have an overall capacity required to negotiate these items. If the EC is insisting on negotiating investment and competition as a catalyst for the development of ECOWAS region, the question that should be asked is, who is this development more important to, the receiver or the giver?
Of course, if the West African region says although development is important to her but that for certain reasons she cannot negotiate these items for now, what moral justification has the EU to insist they must by all means?
To some analysts, this portrays a hidden agenda which is amplified by the fact that the UK Parliament, the French Parliament and recently, the EU Parliament had severally called on the EC not to exert pressure on the ACP regions that are not interested in negotiating these items on the EPA table.
Funny enough, many are observing the EC, an already economically developed region which makes everyone believe they are only doing the ACP regions a favour and have no offensive interest or anything to gain from negotiating these items. If the EC is not rooting for any profit, then, the ACPs should be allowed to have a break from these items which they see as impediments to the MDGs realisation. A current propaganda within the West African region is that some big countries like Nigeria, having a big volume of investments do not want others to have an equitable share of the region's investment and are therefore averse or uncomfortable with investment and competition negotiations in the EPA.
However, the proponents have forgotten that both Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Portfolio investments in the region have focused majorly on oil and extractives which are natural resources. These resources account for the main reason why about 60% of the region's FDI is domiciled in Nigeria. Manufacturing and agricultural sectors which are not international money spinners do not attract such quantum of investments and little wonder the investments in the oil industry has not translated into increased employment generation, wealth creation and poverty reduction.
One essential thing the EU must understand is that the West African region is prone to crises. An observation is that the more the heated arguments and debates on this issue come on the table of EPA regional meetings, the more bad blood generated among member countries.
Such ill motivated debates can ignite chaos, which all the funds meant for EPA together, the EU, and the world may not be able to quench. Then it may be too late to rationalise or understand the compatibility between crises and regional integration. In order to ensure that the 'Singapore issues' rest in peace without causing further rancor or pandemonium amongst member countries, and to avoid the issues being used as a weapon to disorganise or weaken the unstable ECOWAS region; what the Ministers can do is to discard the subject matter as far as EPA is concerned.
This could be done via an emphatic pronouncement asserting that investment and competition are no go areas in the EPA negotiations and should therefore remain a priority for the regions integration process, and should by no means come up as an agenda for debate within the ambits of the EPA in or outside the West African region.
Ukaoha, President, National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), wrote in from Abuja.
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