PRESIDENT Hifikepunye Pohamba and Cabinet yesterday asked for a comprehensive report on the derailed trade negotiations between Namibia and the European Union (EU), veiled in growing distrust, before deciding whether or not to sign the controversial economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the bloc.

Delivering a ministerial statement in Parliament, Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob said he will first submit the report to the Cabinet Committee on Overall Policy and Priorities, chaired by the President, and thereafter to Cabinet, "so that Cabinet can take a final decision on this issue".

This follows Geingob giving Cabinet a briefing on the deadlock at their weekly meeting in Windhoek yesterday morning.

Namibia remains fully committed to the conclusion of the EPA and wants to continue negotiations as a matter of "urgency and priority", provided the European Commission (EC) treats it as an equal partner, he said.

"In a partnership we negotiate on the basis of mutual trust and equality. This is what we expect and want to see in our engagements with the EC on the EPA," Geingob demanded.

Besides two major unresolved issues in the existing interim EPA, Namibia biggest problem is the EC's reluctance to issue written safeguards on concessions agreed to in previous rounds of negotiations.

The EC, on the other hand, is growing increasingly impatient and has said that unless Namibia signs the interim EPA, local beef, fish and table grapes will lose the quota- and tariff-free access to the trade superpower they have enjoyed up to now.

Geingob told Parliament that the Trade Ministers of the SADC-EPA configuration group met in May in Gaborone to discuss "a draft declaration from the EU which was to accompany the signing of the interim EPA".

The ministers revised the declaration to reflect the decisions reached at an earlier meeting at Swakopmund, including infant industry protection, food security, free flow of goods and export taxes.

They wanted these concessions to be included in the interim EPA or added as an annex to the agreement, and instructed the chief negotiator to submit the revised declaration to the EU as the SADC-EPA position, Geingob said.

"While we were awaiting a possible follow-up meeting, we received a letter from the EU indicating that they will not accept the revised declaration and that the Swakopmund agreement will only be taken into consideration during the negotiations of the final EPA," the Minister said.

Next thing, "in typical EU fashion, which does not consider other partners' time or views", the SADC-EPA group was told they had to sign the interim agreement in Brussels on June 4.

Geingob said the ministers were "shocked and dismayed" at the response.

"Our concern is of course is that, if the issues agreed at Swakopmund are not reflected in a binding document, it does not bind the parties to take these issues into account during the negotiations of the final EPA," he said.

Due to the "unwillingness" of the EC to make amendments, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland agreed to sign the interim EPA. This they did with the blessing of Angola, Namibia and South Africa (ANSA), the remainder of the SADC-EPA group.

Geingob said he proposed their go-ahead "in the interest of regional integration and respect for sovereignty of member states".

However, he also proposed that those who do not want to sign should be given the "necessary support and understanding", thereby retaining unity in the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu).

The Minister also told Parliament that the sensitive issues of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and Definition of Parties (DoP) remain unresolved.

This will directly affect Namibia's future South-South trade and co-operation, as well as its regional integration efforts.

"The MFN provision in the interim EPA means that we would have to automatically give the EU any more favourable trade arrangement that we may have wished to give to other partners such as India and China," he said.

Geingob stressed that Namibia "will sign" when their conditions are met, "that is to say, when our interests are adequately considered".