Trade experts from eight southern Africa countries met recently in the Mozambican capital Maputo to prepare a negotiating strategy for the forthcoming round of negotiations with the European Union (EU) within the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) framework to be launched in Windhoek, Namibia.

The negotiations are set within the framework of the Cotonou agreement, which succeeded the Lomé convention in 2000. Under the agreement, which is the cornerstone of the economic relationship between Europe and the developing world, ACP countries can flag most of their commodities into the European Union markets.

However, owing to pressure from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the agreement also allows for a progressive removal of restrictive trade barriers over a 20-year period.

It is against this backdrop that by 2008, Phase I of the EPAs should come into force with the view of scrapping all charges equivalent to tariffs opening way for an eventual reciprocal trade agreement between the ACP and EU.

But there are a host of difficulties to be tackled first, one of which is the multiple membership of some Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to other overlapping trading groups, and the unequal levels of development within the member states.

Jorge Salvador, coordinator of the Technical Unit for Trade Protocols of the Mozambican Trade and Industry Ministry, says extra care should be taken because “a less careful entry into this process might bring risks to least developed countries”.

Least developed countries (LCDs) have the rather strange position of having superior EU market access to other ACP countries, and inferior rules of origin of their products. This hinders regional integration as each country tries to haggle for the best deal, underscored by Salvador who says “LDCs should not be required to give without getting anything in return”.

The meeting, therefore, afforded an opportunity for the trade experts from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania and South Africa as an observer, to learn more about the process, discuss strategies and action plans.

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland comprise the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) while Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Tanzania are considered least developed countries. South Africa already has a trade agreement with the EU. These differences in status complicate negotiations with the EU.

These differences, however, have to be overcome so that come July the countries can sit at the table with the EU trade and development commissioners and try to strike a better deal for the peoples of the region. (SARDC)

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