SANF 04 no 59
Heads of State and Government of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group have adopted a series of decisions and resolutions aimed at furthering the group’s interest in its negotiations with the European Union (EU) and other international bodies.
The decisions on peace and security; on millennium development goals (MDGs); intra ACP cooperation; ACP-EU relations; negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements; negotiations with the World Trade Organisation (WTO); and on sugar were made at the 4th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government held in the Mozambican capital of Maputo on 23 and 24 June under the theme “Together Shaping Our Future”.
Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told journalists that the ACP countries had expressed some fears and hopes on certain issues, but seemingly those fears had been dispelled because “we received from our partners (EU delegation present at the summit) some encouragement”.
The best way forward then would be for the group to approach the negotiations with a common position. Chissano acknowledged that for various reasons cooperation has not been enough but the summit had “looked beyond and saw that there are possibilities to improve our cooperation”.
On peace and security, Chissano said that the summit had discussed the current unstable situation on the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and decided that the ongoing initiatives aimed at reaching a peaceful solution should be encouraged.
“The issue was raised in the form of information from the two countries concerned, and we encouraged them to seek a peaceful solution,” he said, adding that the delegates had supported the “initiative and ongoing efforts by the African Union, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations”.
Furthermore, the group had shown support to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and had discussed ways of helping to have Zimbabwe’s image and relations restored, especially in western circles, because “on this side of our world and the ACP there is an openness for cooperation with Zimbabwe.”
“Everyone is ready to give the necessary support so Zimbabwe’s problem can be resolved in the best possible manner. We’ll work to see the European Union and the United States restore their cooperation with Zimbabwe,” he said.
Speaking on sugar, Chissano said that there are fears that in the event that the EU scraps subsidies to its farmers, sugar prices could plummet, further impoverishing ACP sugar producers.
Consequently, the summit had mandated its council of ministers to negotiate with the EU so that should that happen, the latter could provide some sort of compensation which would enable the ACP “to continue surviving, and they (EU) have no other alternative but to reduce subsidies,” he said.
ACP countries and development activists have long argued that subsidies to Western cotton and sugar growers distort market prices and they have campaigned for their scrapping. This became a sticky issue that contributed to the breakdown of the WTO trade negotiations in Cancun and thus stalled the Doha Development Agenda.
And because the WTO trade talks should continue, Chissano said that the group had also mandated its ministers to seek ways for better coordination among the group aimed at fostering cohesion in the negotiations with the EU and WTO.
The summit had also expressed concern that many countries will not reach the MDGs by 2015, but it had taken the decision to work harder and “do our best in the years which we still have left until 2015,” he said. The MDGs are a multi-dimensional challenge to tackle poverty and an agreement on a number of time-bound development targets.
Despite promises made at a United Nations General Assembly that developed countries would give developing nations 0.7 percent of their GDP to help the latter achieve MDGs, most of them are yet to deliver on that pledge.
The Mozambican president said in reviewing cooperation with the EU, the ACP would “take action to launch an appeal for donors to strongly support the efforts of developing countries” to reach the MDG targets.
On the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), Chissano said that more steps should be taken to effect better coordination in negotiations between and within the various ACP regions and bodies in order to ensure a common approach.
EPAs were introduced following pressure from the WTO to allow for a progressive removal of preferential trade, extended to ACP countries, over a 20-year period, and this will eventually lead to a reciprocal trade agreement between the ACP and EU.
The Europeans have been arguing that EPAs will boost development and will improve ACP access to their markets.
The ACP position is that EPAs should not simply become agreements on free trade areas, but that they should be real tools of cooperation contributing towards sustainable development and poverty reduction.
(SARDC)
