KINGSTON, JAMAICA – CARIFORUM-European Union (EU) negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) were officially launched in Kingston, Jamaica, April 16. The launch was hosted by the Government of Jamaica.
The CARIFORUM-EU EPA, which will be the outcome of negotiations launched yesterday – set to come to a close December 2007 – was described by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, as blending “elements of continuity and elements of change”.
Prime Minister Patterson characterized the launch as representing the enhancement of the two region’s “longstanding friendship, political cooperation, shared history and economic partnership”. He concluded, “this renewal is intended to consolidate an enduring economic relationship as we embark on a new dimension of our interaction, embracing the full range of economic activities and trans-border transactions”. Prime Minister Patterson made these comments in a keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony to mark the launch, the morning of April 16.
H.E. Dr. Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARIFORUM, chaired the proceedings. Also speaking at the ceremony were: Dame Billie Miller, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Barbados, and Lead CARICOM Ministerial Spokesperson on EPAs; European Commissioners for Trade and Development, Pascal Lamy and Poul Neilson, respectively; and, H.E. Jean-Robert Goulongana, Secretary-General of the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group of States. Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, also joined the distinguished speakers at the head table. In attendance at the launch ceremonies were Ministers, Ambassadors, diplomats and officials from the CARIFORUM countries. Members of the Diplomatic Corps, as well as representatives of several regional and international organizations, and non-state actors were also present. The Director-General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal, headed the RNM team to the event, which included the RNM’s Senior Director, Mr. Henry Gill.
Subsequent speeches brought into context perspectives of the CARIFORUM countries, the EU and the ACP Group, respectively.
Dame Miller stressed that the region was committed to crafting an EPA appropriate to small developing economies. In reference to troubled World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, she noted that CARIFORUM EPA negotiations “are being launched in circumstances that are less than propitious”. Adding that this is “testimony to our resolve to strengthen and deepen our relationship….today we are giving concrete expression to forging a framework which will establish an interface of a different character”. The region’s chief EPA spokesperson was emphatic that “such an architecture must promote the reduction of vulnerability while facilitating sustainable development. It must provide enhanced structural transformation of our economies; and international competitiveness and export diversification”.
Secretary-General Carrington’s remarks reflected on the nostalgia of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA launch. In taking stock of the Caribbean’s long-standing relationship with Europe, he concluded it was “a most enduring one”. He characterized April 16 as an “historic day”. “The enhancement of the quality of life of our peoples must remain a fundamental objective of the EPA. How it does this will depend on the wisdom of our joint initiative today, and the spirit of the negotiations to come”, he said.
Commissioner Neilson described the inauguration of this new phase of negotiations as being guided by the central objectives of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. “The special value of EPAs are that they are based on a well established development partnership”, he said. The Commissioner underscored the importance of the link between EU development financing and EPAs.
Commissioner Lamy sought to highlight the role of EPA negotiations in building on regional integration processes, within the ACP, with a view to “locking in the benefits of those initiatives”. He touted EPAs as “underwriting” the Caribbean’s efforts at crafting a stable and reliable environment for sustainable development and trade. Lamy acknowledged that this has to be accomplished taking into account the two different levels of development and size, regarding Europe and the Caribbean. “We accept asymmetrical liberalization, specifically differences in product coverage and phasing”, he said.
In commenting on the CARIFORUM EPA launch, Secretary-General Goulongana took stock of the ACP regions that have thus far undertaken EPA negotiations with the EU, and the regions yet to do so. He highlighted the importance of unity and solidarity across the ACP regions, even as respective regional groupings forge ahead with EPA negotiations.
The formal CARIFORUM EPA launch commencement proceedings having been adjourned, the First Joint EPA Ministerial Negotiating Meeting was convened the same day. The hour-long session began at mid-day. The CARIFORUM Ministerial team, flanked by Senior Officials, was led by Dame Miller. Commissioner Lamy headed the EU team in the ‘closed-door’ interchange. Later that afternoon, following a luncheon hosted by Prime Minister Patterson for the CARIFORUM Ministerial and EU teams, a joint press conference was convened. Dame Miller and Pascal Lamy reported on elements of deliberations between the two sides, in their first interface subsequent to the launch. Events marking the CARIFORUM EPA launch were then brought to a close.
In remarks to members of the press, Ambassador Bernal noted that the formal launch of negotiations between CARIFORUM and the EU marked a watershed in what has been an enduring model of North-South relations. “The outcome of these negotiations will contribute significantly to mediating the region’s encounter with globalization”, he said.
The Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM) represents the regional configuration of the CARICOM countries of Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively, together with the Dominican Republic.
ACP-EU relations are based on the three-pronged pillars of aid, trade and political co-operation, that date back to the 1950s. Current relations with the ACP are governed by a partnership agreement, signed in Cotonou, Benin, in June 2000. Called the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA), it builds on twenty-five years of ACP-EU cooperation under four successive Lomé Conventions. Seventy-eight ACP countries are signatories to the CPA. The CPA establishes a comprehensive framework for ACP-EU relations, for a period of twenty years. At the centre of the partnership are economic development, the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty, and the smooth and gradual integration of ACP States into the world economy. In order to accomplish these objectives, the CPA provides for the conclusion between the ACP and the EU of new WTO compatible trading arrangements. This is to be achieved through the conclusion of EPAs. EPAs are defined by the CPA as a major instrument of economic and trade co-operation. Initial EPA deliberations began with an engagement at the all-ACP level in September 2002. These negotiations are set to end December 31, 2007.
Speeches delivered at the CARIFORUM EPA launch commencement by: Prime Minister Patterson, Dame Miller, Commissioners Lamy and Neilson, and Secretary-General Goulongana, respectively, will be available on the RNM website (www.crnm.org), April 20.
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