| EC increases pressure on ACP to sign up to the EPAs, while World Bank voices concern |
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Brussels, 19 September 2007. As the deadline for finalizing the trade agreements between the EU and countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries approaches, the European Commission is stepping up its offensive to get ACP governments to agree what is on offer. As part of this offensive to conclude the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by the end of the year Development Commissioner Louis Michel summoned ACP Ambassadors to a meeting in ACP House on 18 September. At the meeting he lectured the ACP government representatives on why the EU’s trade offer is in the best interests of their countries It seems, however, that ACP governments are not alone in their thinkingThe World Bank is also hesitant. At a meeting in Brussels the day before Michel met ACP Ambassadors one senior Bank official warned that the in its current form there was a danger that the EPAs would make things worse for ACP states, not better. He said that Africa clearly needs more effective increases in its trade, this must be based primarily on strengthening regional markets. So while EPAs may have this as their stated objective “the devil is in the detail” and it is in this that the Bank has concerns. This needed more careful study and reflection, and it doubtful that this could be achieved together with the necessary negotiations before the end of the year. It was suggested that some way needed to be found to allow such negotiations to carry over into next year. The World Banks concerns would seem to be derived from the impact that the EPAs could have on the way in which ACP economies are encouraged to develop. For the Bank priority remains clearly focused on promoting economic growth. However, according to the senior official its approach to this is this through giving priority to Africa’s own private sector. Investment is needed to help Africa’s own small scale producers to grow, and bring informal sector producers into the formal sector. For this public policy needs to play a key role. While the World Bank paints a positive picture about current economic growth rates for many African countries, there are concerns that this will not be maintained. Indeed, Bank’s senior representative highlighted the historical cycle in Africa of high growth decades being followed by ones of low growth, strongly suggesting that it was inevitable that this pattern would continue. Given the critique of the World Bank, ACP governments should be wary of the EPAs in their current form. |
