EC says EPAs won`t end with market access signatures

The European Commission delegation in the country has said that the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) process will not end with the signature of market access agreements, but would continue with intensive discussion on the constraints on the supply side.

Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday the EC Counsellor for Economic Affairs, Douglas Carpenter, said the discussion would be based on the constraints including transport, energy and trade related issues such as investment and services that were crucial to economic growth and development.

``There has been a clear call for substantial resources to accompany the EPAs process and European Commission has responded on that by increasing the EU development fund compared to the previous time,`` he said.

Carpenter said EC`s focus on addressing capacity building, fiscal loses; trade facilitation as well as infrastructure would in turn help ACP countries produce products that could compete on both quality and price.

"With focus to Tanzania, the EC is expecting to launch its largest programme of 900bn/- next year to support growth and trade related issues as part of a total budget for the country under the 10th European Development Fund," he said.

He said around 90 per cent of the programme will be directed to microeconomic aid, support to transport sector, trade and agriculture.

"This demonstrates the long term commitment of the EC to form enduring partnership with the government of Tanzania, civil society and the private sector in the growth and competitiveness cluster of the National Strategy for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction," he said.

Carpenter added that it is also evidence that EPA and development funding go together.

"The EC and EU members states continue to believe that EPAs if successfully concluded can put EU-Africa trade relations on a firm, modern, structured and sustainable footing," he said.

EPA's idea faced a number of challenges across the region whereby some of the pressure groups and civil societies protested against the move, saying it would allow the EU member states to exploit Africa.

EU members have expressed readiness to remove all remaining quota and tariff limitation on access to their markets as a way of helping EPAs negotiation to move ahead.

EPAs are the agreements that EU is negotiating with six African Caribbean and Pacific regions that will replace the trade chapters of the Cotonou Agreements when the trade preferences of the agreement expire next year.

WTO has set the end of this year as the deadline for EU member states on the one hand and the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations on the other to conclude negotiations and start actually implementing the EPAs.