Mpho Tlale
9 July 2009
Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) have been hailed as necessary for middle-income countries that wish to secure the best possible access for their products to the European Union (EU) market, a senior European Commission (EC) official has said.
Lena Sund, head of political, trade and information section of the Delegation of the EC in Botswana and SADC told the Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) workshop on Tuesday that if no EPA is signed, the EU General Scheme of Preferenties will apply. This means that African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) group of states will have to pay the same tariffs as Latin American and Asian countries.
Sund pointed out that The EU has shown its support to ACP countries under initiatives such as the 9th European Development Fund. This is a specific 6.5 million Euro EPA support facility meant to facilitate negotiations and preparations. Fund said that another package of 80 million Euro supports customs modernisation, standards and quality assurance, food safety, finance and investment and trade services within SADC.
The objective of the BOCCIM workshop was to create awareness in the business community on EPAs; to provide information on what benefits they can derive from EPAs and to challenge the business community to be export ready.
The decision to conclude EPAs was taken jointly by the ACP and the EU and it formed a part of the Cotonou agreement, which was signed in 2000. The interim SADC-EU EPA was signed in June this year by Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland. Namibia and South Africa are yet to sign.
Under the EPA, ACP including SADC will enjoy quota and duty free market access for almost all their exports to the current 27 member EU trading bloc. Unlike the previous ACP-EU trade agreements where quotas and duties were imposed, the current agreements provides an additional opportunity for open economies like Botswana.
Speaking at the workshop, the executive director of Delta Dairies, Dr Howard Sigwele said that: "For Botswana, the country will enjoy a duty and quota free market access for all her exports which is a positive development for business/private sector,".
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