Accra - Ghana — West Africa expects that the impending Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union should have a salutary effect on its economy by boosting the development of its private sector, stimulating employment, ensuring improved access to the factors of production, securing increased market access to products from the region in Europe and contributing to economic growth, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Free Movement and Tourism has said. '
The attainment of these objectives, based on the antecedent and success of other regions in the world will lead to enhanced regional production, higher levels of supply and trading capacities of our Member States and strengthen their trade and investment policies,' the Commissioner said on Monday, 6th September 2010 while opening a stakeholder sensitization workshop in Accra. He added that the ' EPA we intend to conclude should be a veritable tool for our region to reduce the dependence of our member states on the production of primary products and natural resources-based sectors through diversification and increased value addition.' The Commissioner debunked the 'widespread misconception that the EPA was forced upon African, Caribbean and Pacific countries,' explaining that it was rather being negotiated in order to replace the existing discriminatory trade regime between the two regions with a WTO-compliant regime that requires that such arrangements be non-discriminatory.
'Under all the previous trade agreements, namely Yaoundé, Lome and Cotonou, the European Union had discriminated against other developing countries in favour of ACP countries, including West Africa,' he explained. He re-reiterated the position of the region to 'secure the underwriting via concrete commitment by the EU of the costs of adjustment associated with the implementation of EPA's through the creation of a financial facility additional and distinct from the EDF.' The EU is offering about 6.25 billion of existing funds under the European Development Fund (EDF) and other 'Aid for Trade' sources to fund the EPA Development Programme (EPADP), a regional fund that would enable West Africa cope with the adjustments costs for implementing the EPA including improving its infrastructure. West Africa estimates that an initial 9.5 billion would be required for the fund which would enable the region address its deficiencies in order to boost the competitiveness of its industries to enable them benefit from the free trade area between West Africa and Europe envisaged by the EPA.
As both regions approach the concluding phase of the negotiations, the Commissioner listed the challenges confronting the region to include the attainment of a concrete position on the EPADP, financing the adjustment costs and fiscal dislocations arising from the implementation of the EPA, the emerging global financial crises and their impact on the region and the need to ensure that the region's obligations under the proposed EPA was consistent with other trade arrangements being negotiated. Other challenges include the process for the establishment of a region-wide Common External Tariff (CET) that will result in the creation of a customs union, the alignment of existing interim EPA's signed by Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana with the regional EPA framework and the unfolding EU enlargement.
The workshop is the last in a three-phase programme of stakeholder sensitization to apprise various segments of West African citizens of the status of the negotiation process and engender their ownership of the process. Representatives of the academia and the media from the region are participating in this phase of the workshop. The two previous workshops held between 31st August and 4th September 2010 were conducted for the region's lawmakers, including member of national parliaments and the ECOWAS parliament as well as representatives of civil society and the private sector.
