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 The European Parliament has issued a draft resolution urging the Commission not to apply the terms of a new economic partnership agreement (EPA) between the bloc and Cameroon to other countries in central Africa. The trade deal requires that Cameroon remove 80 percent of its tariffs it on EU imports within 15 years.
Following the signing of the EPA with Cameroon, EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said in a statement: "I am strongly committed to pursuing and concluding regional negotiations in Central Africa and this agreement should be seen as a milestone on the path to the successful conclusion of a regional Economic Partnership Agreement with Central Africa." While Cameroon is classified as a lower-middle income economy by United Nations agencies, other countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Principe, Chad and the Central African Republic are all classed as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Karin Ulmer, a trade campaigner with the anti-poverty organisation Aprodev, warned: "Whatever Cameroon signs has an immediate impact on other countries in Central Africa... The dilemma created by this signature is that we don't have any guarantees that the other countries will get a fair deal." The Commission has maintained throughout the controversial negotiations with African, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states that at least an 80 percent elimination of tariffs is required by World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. However Kader Arif, the French Socialist MEP who drafted the resolution, called this position "an extreme interpretation" of WTO rules. He commented that "this massive liberalisation of trade might seriously destabilise many economic sectors, especially the most fragile ones" in some of the poorest countries in the world. Source: |
