Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 42 • 8th December 2004
In Brief
PETER MANDELSON DISCUSSES TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH ACP COUNTRIES
On 1 December, the newly appointed EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, held his first meeting with trade ministers from the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states in Brussels. On the agenda were the ACP’s involvement in ongoing multilateral trade talks and the EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. Regarding multilateral trade priorities, Commissioner Mandelson stressed that "delivering development has been the core of the EU’s approach to the Doha Agenda" — an agenda which he intended to pursue. He cautioned, however, that advanced developing countries needed to be aware that they could not be granted the same advantages and privileges as "weak and vulnerable" countries in the Doha round. Regarding the EPAs, he reiterated their importance in promoting regional integration and tackling supply-side constraints to trade within the ACP.
Mr. Mandelson also highlighted some of the assurances that his predecessor Pascal Lamy had repeatedly offered to the ACP. In particular, he mentioned: (i) EPAs would involve asymmetrical liberalisation in favour of the ACP; (ii) EPAs would not necessarily result in loss of customs revenue for the ACP; (iii) in relation to market access, the EU will revise its rules of origin within EPAs and help developing countries meet Europe’s "exacting product standards"; and. (iv) on the ACP’s concern about the erosion of their preferences on bananas, sugar and textiles due to the EU’s recent reform proposals on these commodities, the EC was committed to supporting them through the adjustment process (see BRIDGES Weekly, 3 November 2004).
The full text of Peter Mandelson’s speech is available here.
ICTSD reporting.
SOUTH-SOUTH TRADE SCHEME LIFTING OFF
The 19th session of the Global System of Trade Preferences Among Developing Countries (GSTP) was held on 3 December in Geneva. Participants agreed to conduct negotiations next year in two groups — trade rules and market access — that will be chaired by Nigeria and India respectively.
The session reviewed a work programme for the rules group that includes examining current rules of origin under the GSTP and developing ways and means of improving technical cooperation on non-tariff barriers to trade. It also examined the market access group’s review of GSTP members’ trade and tariff data. The market access group plans to finalise its work programme early next year and will likely focus on examining various tariff reduction approaches.
The 44 member countries in the GSTP hope to conclude the round by November 2006 to fully take advantage of the trade opportunities offered by the South-South trade liberalisation framework (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 November 2004).
ICTSD reporting; "Sao Paulo Round of GSTP Negotiations," GSTP PRESS RELEASE, 7 December 2004.