NewsWhore
12-17-2007, 03:50 PM
After three and-a-half years of stressful negotiations, the Caribbean and European negotiating teams have concluded the first Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Both parties completed the massive task around 1:30am on Sunday, 16 December at the Grand Barbados Hotel in Bridgetown, Barbados.
As of January 2008 all exports in goods and services originating from within the Cariforum countries (CARICOM plus DR) will receive duty-free and quota-free access in Europe. Eighty percent of the goods produced in Europe will receive duty free access to the Caribbean markets within the next 15 years.
Hugo Ramirez Risk, former Director of Trade Negotiations for the DR, who witnessed the round that took place in Bridgetown, from Wednesday to Sunday last week, indicates that non-discriminatory access with respect to the region's culture industries, including the performing arts and writers, one of the major sticking points in the negotiations on services, was finally overcome late the last night of the round with a commitment offered by 25 of the EU's 27 member states.
"What makes this development all the more significant is the fact that the Caribbean has emerged as the first of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to finalize an EPA arrangement with the European Union," he reports.
"The reaffirmed mandate by CARIFORUM's negotiators was to conclude the most beneficial and complete accord possible in preference to securing a market access arrangement by the 31 December 2007 deadline, and so the DR did. By 2010, all vital exports will be eligible for duty-free and quota-free access to Europe's market," he explained.
With respect to Caribbean sugar exports, Ramirez Risk explains that the agreement is that Caricom sugar producers will gain an additional 30,000 tons on top of current allocations while the DR is to benefit from a separate 30,000 tons, but only until 9 September 2009.
The EPA arrangements concluded in Barbados are to be submitted to the EU Council on Thursday this week, for the insertion of the 15 Cariforum countries in the European Commission's regulations to permit unhindered access to Europe's market from January 1st 2008.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
As of January 2008 all exports in goods and services originating from within the Cariforum countries (CARICOM plus DR) will receive duty-free and quota-free access in Europe. Eighty percent of the goods produced in Europe will receive duty free access to the Caribbean markets within the next 15 years.
Hugo Ramirez Risk, former Director of Trade Negotiations for the DR, who witnessed the round that took place in Bridgetown, from Wednesday to Sunday last week, indicates that non-discriminatory access with respect to the region's culture industries, including the performing arts and writers, one of the major sticking points in the negotiations on services, was finally overcome late the last night of the round with a commitment offered by 25 of the EU's 27 member states.
"What makes this development all the more significant is the fact that the Caribbean has emerged as the first of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to finalize an EPA arrangement with the European Union," he reports.
"The reaffirmed mandate by CARIFORUM's negotiators was to conclude the most beneficial and complete accord possible in preference to securing a market access arrangement by the 31 December 2007 deadline, and so the DR did. By 2010, all vital exports will be eligible for duty-free and quota-free access to Europe's market," he explained.
With respect to Caribbean sugar exports, Ramirez Risk explains that the agreement is that Caricom sugar producers will gain an additional 30,000 tons on top of current allocations while the DR is to benefit from a separate 30,000 tons, but only until 9 September 2009.
The EPA arrangements concluded in Barbados are to be submitted to the EU Council on Thursday this week, for the insertion of the 15 Cariforum countries in the European Commission's regulations to permit unhindered access to Europe's market from January 1st 2008.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)