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This weblog shares information on key ACP-EU programmes and events
from Brussels relevant to agriculture and rural development in ACP countries.
Date : 07/10/2013
CTA Brussels Newsletter
Main events in the week
- Main Events for the Week 07/10/2013 – 13/10/2013
- Brussels Briefing on 'Agricultural Transformation in Africa'
- CTA Brussels wishes to recruit an administrative assistant
- ECLAC analyzes the impact of climate change on Caribbean coasts
- Civil-society perspectives for the post-2015 agenda
- Spain: No state aid will be granted to vessels fishing outside EU
- Auditors slam effectiveness of EU’s €1.9 billion aid to Congo
- EPA: Ghana stands to lose 825 million Euros by 2022 says consultant
- Spanish fisheries sector’s divided opinions on EU-Mauritania agreement rejection
- SCA approved final compromise texts of the CAP
- Nigerian Minister of Agriculture appeals to EU to open up its market
- EU delegation meets the agricultural sector in Ghana
- EU helps to build resilience to drought in Ethiopia
- Investing in Agrotourism Development in the Caribbean Region
- FAO report on the state of food insecurity
- EU admits double-counting climate finance and development aid
- EPA: West Africa ministers meet to revive negotiations
- Tariff increases on imported chicken in South Africa
- A Caribbean pavilion at Anuga food show
- Main Events for the Week 07/10/2013 – 13/10/2013
2013-10-07
European Parliament:
- 07-10 October: European Parliament Plenary Session
Council of the EU:
- 10 October: Transport, Telecommunications & Energy Council
ACP Group:
- 7-9 October: ACP Ministerial Trade Committee – Senior Officials
- 9-11 October: 17th Meeting of the ACP Ministerial Trade Committee
- 11 October: 12th Meeting of the Joint ACP-EU Ministerial Trade Committee
You can also follow our new Facebook group CTABrussels and our Twitter account CTABrussels to receive up-to-date information on EU-ACP events.
- Brussels Briefing on 'Agricultural Transformation in Africa'
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture
The last Brussels Development Briefing on the ‘Drivers of success for agricultural transformation in Africa‘ was held on 2nd of October, at the Borschette Congress Center in Brussels.
More than 120 participants discussed successes and shared lessons from the agricultural transformation in Africa, by emphasizing its impact on the livelihood of the people and its key role for the growth of the economies of the continent.
The event consisted of two different parts. The first provided an overview of the potential of agriculture in Africa as an engine for growth and sustainable development. It showed the positive trends and the needed drivers for sustained growth and inclusiveness. The second panel presented proven actions in African agriculture and best PPPs practices based on the successes of CAADP in the last 10 years. It highlighted successes which can be upscaled and/or replicated.
On the page of the last briefing you can find the programme of the event, a background research, the photos taken during the panels, video recording of the speeches, the presentations of the speakers, as well as other useful information.
This event marked the 33rd edition of the Brussels Development Briefings – a regular event organized in Brussels by the Technical Centre for Agriculture (CTA), together with the DG Development and Cooperation of the European Commission (EC/DEVCO), the ACP Secretariat and other partners – on key issues and challenges for rural development in the context of EU/ACP cooperation.
Source: CTA
 Read more
- CTA Brussels wishes to recruit an administrative assistant
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Rural development
CTA wishes to recruit a Project and Administrative Assistant to provide support to the CTA Brussels Office in administrative and financial management tasks as well as in project management.
Under the responsibility of the Manager of the Brussels Office, the assistant will provide administrative assistance to the office, financial and logistical assistance to the organisation of technical events, project management assistance and communication support, and following the financial reports and payments.
Interested candidates can consult the full job description on the CTA website. The deadline for applications is on 6th October 2013. Thank you for quoting the source of the advertisement where you were made aware of this vacancy.
Source: CTA
- ECLAC analyzes the impact of climate change on Caribbean coasts
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Climate change
On Wednesday 2nd October, The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Environment and the University of Cantabria in launched a database aiming to improve coastal planning and develop preventive measures to adapt to the effects of climate change. The database is part of the project, "Effects of Climate Change on the Coast of Latin America and the Caribbean".
ECLAC said the database contains information on coastal dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean, climate variability, coastal vulnerability and exposure to climate change, the impact of climate change in the area and an estimation of predictable risks in the future. “From today, this database, which is a major public good for the region, is available for all interested users, the potential of this tool is relevant for territorial planning, engineering requirements and environmental impact evaluation procedures,” it added.
Source: Caribbean 360
Read more
More on ECLAC
Consult the database
- Civil-society perspectives for the post-2015 agenda
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Development Policy
A group of Members of the European Parliament (EP) and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have issued a call for gender, economy and ecology perspectives to be included in the UN's new sustainable development goals (SDGs). They said that analysis and recommendations from the perspective of civil-society environmental and women's rights organizations should be taken into account by the governments and UN agencies which are preparing their priorities for a framework of goals and targets for development following the Rio+20 summit in June 2012, as well as the post-2015 follow-up of the millennium development goals.
They claim that in the current crisis context, the influence of multinational companies has never been as strong in its resolve to protect profits above all else, and preserve structural inequalities that secure such gains. They added that the recent ‘high-level panel’ on the ‘post-2015 development agenda’ shows a disturbing reorientation of development toward the interests and priorities of corporations, further marginalizing the concerns of women all over the world, as well as their communities.
Finally, they considers that women's groups in every region of the world have been leading work on all areas that contribute to sustainable development - social, environmental and economic - particularly focusing on gender equality and human rights.
In 2015, the United Nations will adopt a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs), thus establishing the broad framework for the global development agenda for the next few decades, TheParliament.com informs.
Source: TheParliament.com
Read more
EU seeks focus on environment in the post-MDG debate
High-level panel of eminent persons on the Post-2015 Agenda
- Spain: No state aid will be granted to vessels fishing outside EU
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Regional Fisheries
The Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), Miguel Arias Cañete, announced that "from now until the end of the year" it will not be possible to grant state aid to the fleet fishing outside European Union (EU) waters. He recalled that in 2008 the European Commission (EC) published its guidelines on this kind of aid and that the deadline for granting is on the 31st December.
The minister also stated that in the current context, some segments of the fleet that would hypothetically be benefitted are getting "very interesting returns," EFE agency reports. Arias Cañete added that the General Fisheries Secretariat is working on the creation of a "special register" of vessels fishing in non community waters to clarify which companies could be eligible supported if there was a more favorable budget scenario.
The minister referred to the boats that catch tuna and other related resources off EU fishing grounds. These are aids granted through tax exemptions or reductions in labour costs, which Brussels enables so as to try to match the competitiveness of European vessels with those from other nations, such as those from Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Source: Fish Info & Services
Read more
Guidelines for the examination of State aid to fisheries
- Auditors slam effectiveness of EU’s €1.9 billion aid to Congo
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Aid effectiveness
A European Court of Auditors report stated that the effectiveness of the EU’s €1.9 billion aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between 2003 and 2011 has been sorely limited, with less than half of programmes likely to deliver the intended results. They outline a litany of reasons for the failures, including an absence of political will, the donor-driven dynamics of many aid programmes, and a lack of absorption capacity for aid that does arrive.
EU support to the DRC currently focuses on peace, security and policy projects, particularly in the troubled east Congo, along with good governance, public sector reform, health, environmental protection and ‘sustainable stabilization. But “sustainability is an unrealistic prospect in most cases,” the report says.
Andris Piebalgs, the EU’s development commissioner welcomed the auditors’ report in a statement, but noted that it was “premature to draw conclusions” about ongoing EU programmes which could be at an early stage of implementation. He said the work should be judged over the long term. He insisted that “The Court has recognized the ‘serious obstacles’ we face in trying to improve governance in the country and these challenges need to be taken into consideration when looking at our achievement,”.
But as well as questioning these achievements, the Court has criticized the way the EU has responded to the obstacles. “The Commission did not take sufficient account of these challenges when designing EU programmes,” auditors said. The Court recommends that the EU improve its cooperation strategy with the DRC, its risk assessment programmes, establishes achievable objectives, and strengthen its use of conditionality and policy dialogue.
Piebalgs answered that it is better to fail to reach over-ambitious targets – in fields such as justice, democracy and good governance - than not to have them at all.
The Congo has hardly any roads or rail infrastructure, and its health and education systems are shattered. Around 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. The same percentage lacks sufficient access to food, and average life expectancy stands at 48 years. More than five million people have died in the conflict in DRC since 1994, leaving it one of the world’s poorest countries, with a UNDP human development index ranking of 187th out of 187 countries, EurActiv informs.
Source: EurActiv
Read more
Recommendations for EU development aid
- EPA: Ghana stands to lose 825 million Euros by 2022 says consultant
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
Ghana would lose about 825 million Euros in import revenue by 2022 if it signs the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union, said a consultant, Osman Mensah, at a forum which was convened in Ghana the last weekend of September by ActionAid-Ghana in collaboration with the General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) of the Ghana Trade Union Congress. The trade agreement would erode the Ghanaian government’s possibility to raise import duties, he told the forum.
He noted that the country started negotiating the EPA mostly because of the fear of losing EU market access for primary commodity exports given that 95 per cent of its exports are primarily raw materials. However he said that the EPA is likely to harm the incipient manufacturing sector Ghana. He recommended to first develop a strong efficient and diversified vibrant export in sector. The current low productive capacity hinders Ghana to fully take advantage of the free EU market access offered under the EPA without subjecting the fragile manufacturing sector to severe competition, he said.
He urged the Ghanaian government to work with the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to renegotiate as a bloc the terms of the EPA in order to maximize the benefits of accessing EU market while minimizing the cost resulting from the trade barriers lowering.
Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah, the General Secretary of the GAWU, reported that the EU was putting pressure on African governments to accept an inequitable agreement. He said the EPA would not benefit the people of Ghana but rather divide the region. "It does not make economic sense for Government to sign the EPA," he added.
Source: Bernama
Read more
Ghana: Decision on EPA by end of October
EPA: Ghana will engage main stakeholders in policy dialogue
- Spanish fisheries sector’s divided opinions on EU-Mauritania agreement rejection
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade, Regional Fisheries
Most members of the Spanish fishing industry – tuna, longliner, hake and shellfish sectors – refuse the national government's decision to request the non-ratification of the fishing agreement signed between the European Union (EU) and Mauritania while the cephalopod industry has welcomed this position. The Secretary General of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama), Carlos Dominguez , announced the position of the government last Thursday.
The biggest part of the sector does not understand the Spanish government’s position because its members consider that improvements were obtained during the latest Joint Committee meeting of EU-Mauritania. Although they recognized that it is not the best of the deals, they support the ratification of the agreement for lacking better alternatives, Fish Info & Services reports.
In contrast, the cephalopod fleet welcomed the Spanish position and insisted that the agreement is unfair, unhelpful and expensive. It refuses to accept a fishing agreement which costs EUR 70 million and forces the scrapping of 32 community cephalopod vessels without an objective that justifies it. They call for the negotiation of a new one that is “fair, balanced and beneficial to all the parties.”
Beyond their different opinions, the fishing associations have agreed that in the next deals the negotiations should take into account the needs of all the segments of the fleet.
Source: Fish Info & Services
Read more
Spain: Against the ratification of fisheries agreement with Mauritania
EU-Mauritania Fisheries Agreement: Amendment of fishing opportunities
- SCA approved final compromise texts of the CAP
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture
On Monday 7 October 2013, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), under the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, approved final compromise texts of the common agriculture policy (CAP) reform package agreed by the Council and the European Parliament representatives during the last trilogue meeting which took place on 24 September.
The main elements of the political agreement on the CAP reform package figure in the four compromise texts prepared by the Presidency:
- First, the proposal for a regulation establishing rules for direct payments to farmers (direct payments regulation) (13294/1/13) seeks to better target support for specific actions, areas or beneficiaries, as well as to pave the way for convergence of the support level within and across member states;
- Second, the proposal for a regulation establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (13369/1/13) aims to streamline, expand and simplify the current provisions on public intervention, private storage, exceptional or emergency measures and aid to specific sectors, as well as to facilitate cooperation through producer and interbranch organisations;
- Third, the proposal for a regulation on support for rural development (rural development regulation) (13349/1/13) covers voluntary measures for rural development, adapted to national and regional specificities, whereby member states draw up and co-finance multiannual programmes under a common framework in cooperation with the EU;
- Fourth, the proposal for a regulation on the financing, management and monitoring of the CAP (horizontal regulation) (13387/1/13) lays down rules concerning expenditure, the farm advisory system, the management and control systems to be put in place by member states, the cross-compliance system and the clearance of accounts.
The European Parliament has approved the compromise texts at the meeting of its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on 30 September 2013. The Chairman of the SCA, for the Presidency, has sent a letter to the Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. This letter indicates that if the Parliament votes at its plenary session the compromise texts as approved by the SCA today, after legal-linguistic revision, the Council will be able to reach agreement with the European Parliament on CAP reform package in first reading.
Source: Council of the European Union
Read more
Programme de la présidence de l’UE sur l’agriculture
Final agreement on new EU agricultural policy
- Nigerian Minister of Agriculture appeals to EU to open up its market
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
The Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, appealed to the European Union (EU) to open up its market to encourage export of value added products from Nigeria, during the second EU-Nigerian Business Forum on “Forging Partnerships in Africa's Economic Powerhouse” in Lagos, on Friday 4th October 2013.
Adesina reported that Nigerian companies were paying high duties and taxes to export finished products to the EU and called for more relaxed tax policies. According to him, Nigerians export more primary products to Europe than finished products because of these duties.
Adesina also said that the Federal Government's consistent transformation of the agriculture sector had enhanced investment opportunities in the sector. "Private sector investors are increasingly expanding integrated production of rice, oil palm, sorghum and some viable perishable fruits and vegetables," he said.
Adesina assured that challenges of power supply, lack of good roads and poor accessibility to capital were being addressed to boost investors' confidence in the agriculture sector. He noted that Nigeria would benefit more from investments from Europeans than from economic aids.
The EU Trade Counsellor, Massimo De-Luca, said that experts from Europe had been developing strategies to train Nigerian entrepreneurs on ways to make their products to meet international standard of exports.
Source: DailyTimes Nigeria
Read more
‘Rebuilding Africa 'can't be dependent on donors'
- EU delegation meets the agricultural sector in Ghana
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Agriculture
Mr Dacian Ciolos, European Union (EU) Commissioner in Agriculture and Rural Development had the opportunity to participate in a round-table discussion at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on Friday, to discuss the challenges, opportunities and strategies proposed to unlock the economic potential of agriculture development in Ghana. He was in the country as part of his field visit to Africa to evaluate and discuss the development of agriculture in Ghana.
Mr Ciolos said that food security remains a top priority and that the EU was committed towards supporting Africa in taking advantage of the numerous potentials in the agricultural sector for its growth and development.
He added that the visit gives him the opportunity to strengthen the EU's bilateral relations with Ghana.
He reassured that EU was committed to building a strong partnership with Ghana to provide both technical and financial support and to encourage government to improve upon its national agricultural policy.
The EU Commissioner said that Africa must look critically at issues such as improving upon the quantity of production without compromising on the quality and strengthen policies targeting the expansion of the agricultural sector. He also urged government to address issues such as the management of natural resources, biodiversity and soil fertility to expand agriculture in the country.
Dr Ahmed Yakubu Alhassan, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, conveyed although Ghana had made tremendous progress in the past, the growth in agriculture insufficient. He attributed this to challenges such as the huge infrastructural deficits in storing surpluses, deficit in national irrigations for agriculture and lack of funding to support these programmes.
Dr Yemi Akinbamijo , Head of Missions and Executive Director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), an NGO working in the field of Agriculture, reported that Ghana was among the few countries in the continent which has registered substantial growth in their agricultural sectors in the past few years. He also called for more coordination between government and its partners and strengthened capacity development of key institutions such as energy and water.
Dr John Kwakye, Senior Economist at the IEA, thanked the EU Commissioner for his readiness to help Ghana to develop appropriate agricultural policy in order to expand growth in the sector.
A new reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has just been concluded in Europe and an Economic Partnership Agreement with West Africa is under negotiation.
Source: Ghana Broadcasting Corporation
Read more
Small-scale agriculture, the key to a secure future in Africa
- EU helps to build resilience to drought in Ethiopia
2013-10-07
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Aid effectiveness, Food Security, Agriculture
The European Union (EU) has announced that it will provide €50 million to improve food security and build resilience to drought in southern and eastern Ethiopia. The new funds will help to boost food security in the lowland areas of Ethiopia through a series of long-term measures: for example, it will support a mechanism that provides cash and food to vulnerable people in case of a shock (eg during a drought) and will improve nutrition, for instance by promoting dietary diversification and the local production of vegetables, milk and forage.
The assistance will also strengthen animal health services and support livestock vaccination campaigns, as well as the management of natural resources such as water and grazing lands. The various activities will help families get more income and be better prepared to cope with any further droughts or shocks.
The project is part of the Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience (SHARE) initiative taken by EU Commissioners Andris Piebalgs and Kristalina Georgieva. The SHARE initiative provides additional support to the most affected regions of the Horn of Africa, improves disaster preparedness and helps to better link humanitarian aid and development cooperation.
The SHARE initiative links humanitarian assistance with longer-term development aid to better protect vulnerable populations in the Horn of Africa from recurrent drought and hunger. Share tries to help the people to be better prepared to resist such shocks in the long run. SHARE aims to bring a better coherence of EU external assistance instruments and a maximum impact of EU aid for the benefit of the targeted populations.
The Horn of Africa is plagued by recurrent droughts, which often translate into emergencies, with high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity. Increasing demographic pressures on natural resources, along with poor infrastructure, an absence of alternative livelihoods, and insecurity, make people particularly vulnerable to droughts in this region.
Source: European Commission
Read more
SHARE: An EU programme to improve food security in the Horn of Africa
SHARE: An EU programme to improve food security in the Horn of Africa
- Investing in Agrotourism Development in the Caribbean Region
2013-10-04
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Rural development
A seminar on 'Investing in Agrotourism Development in the Caribbean Region’, co-organized by IICA and CTA, will be held on Thursday 10 October 2013 during Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) 2013. The issue of strengthening the links between agriculture and tourism has been on the Region’s political and economic development agendas for a considerable time. The potential to improve the value added from tourism through increasing the level of trade in fresh and processed foods and other domestically produced goods and services is a goal that is shared by policy makers and the private sector, in both the agriculture and tourism sectors.
Forging agriculture-tourism linkages capitalizes on the inherent ability of the tourism sector to diversify the Caribbean economy, stimulate entrepreneurship, catalyze investment and assist in wider social development in our rural communities. Such linkages offer unprecedented opportunities to shore up agricultural production, stimulate the rapid growth in “new” agriculture, create employment along the Tourism Value Chain, and build resilience and sustainability of Caribbean economies. The latter is particularly critical for reducing the high levels of leakage of foreign exchange from tourism (as much as 90% in the Bahamas and 50% in Barbados), preserving patrimony and cultural identity, enhancing food and nutrition security and reducing poverty in local communities, and promoting local awareness and good practices with respect to climate change and environmental issues.
Source: CTA
Read more
- FAO report on the state of food insecurity
2013-10-03
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Food Security
The 2013 edition of the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on The State of Food Insecurity in the World has just been released. It presents updated estimates of undernourishment and progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and World Food Summit (WFS) hunger targets. The latest assessment shows that further progress has been made towards the 2015 MDG target, which remains within reach for the developing regions as a whole, although marked differences across regions persist and considerable and immediate additional efforts will be needed.
The 2013 report also presents a broader suite of indicators that aim to capture the multidimensional nature of food insecurity, its determinants and outcomes. Drawing on the suite of indicators, the report also examines the diverse experiences of six countries (Bangladesh, Ghana, Nepal, Nicaragua, Tajikistan and Uganda), finding a mixed picture of progress and setbacks.
Together, these country experiences show the importance of social protection and nutrition-enhancing interventions, policies to increase agricultural productivity and rural development, diverse sources of income and long-term commitment to mainstreaming food security and nutrition in public policies and programmes.
The European Union (EU) is the largest single source of voluntary funding to FAO, contributing to over € 580 million since 2007. The EU closely cooperates with the FAO to deliver quality programmes throughout the world. The European Union, who signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with the FAO in September 2004, supports the institutional strengthening of the FAO to better deliver at the country level and focus the organization’s work in five strategic objectives, at the same assuring best value for money.
The State of Food Insecurity in the World raises awareness about global hunger issues, discusses underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition and monitors progress towards hunger reduction targets established at the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Summit. The publication is targeted at a wide audience, including policy-makers, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public with a general interest in linkages between food security, and human and economic development.
Source: FAO
Read more
FAO and EU join forces to fight hunger
Read the full report
- EU admits double-counting climate finance and development aid
2013-10-03
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : Aid effectiveness, Climate change , Development Policy
EU officials have admitted for the first time that member state donations to the developing countries can simultaneously count towards meeting climate change obligations and development commitments, such as providing 0.7% of gross income for overseas aid.
An EU official told EurActiv, on condition of anonymity, that “it is totally normal that such amounts of money could be counted against ODA commitments, since their primary objective is to contribute to poverty alleviation and also partly or fully contribute to climate change objectives,”
In 2005, EU states pledged to meet the 0.7% spending target for overseas aid by 2015 in line with the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Europe pledged additional funding to support ‘fast start’ climate finance over the 2010-2012 period. But it has now been revealed that some of the same monies may have been counted towards the meeting of both sets of targets at the same time.
The EU’s development commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, said that he is “not in favour of artificial boundaries between financing for different policy goals.” On the contrary, a synergy between development and the fight against climate change is needed, he said. By attempting to merge the Rio+20 agenda with the Millennium Development Goals after 2015, this is what international institutions hope to achieve, he claimed.
But development NGOs say that counting the same money twice in the process – for climate and development purposes – is unfair to developing countries and it is not in line with the expectation of a fair deal towards 2015. The EU should not considered as ‘new’ or ‘additional’ the funding which would have been granted anyway, EurActiv reports.
Eva Joly, the French Green MEP and chair of the European Parliament’s development committee, also warned against the danger to use the ODA for environmental purposes. “You cannot solve the development problem by putting all your money into energy production for instance, because you still need to fund health, education and all the other objectives in the MDGs,” she added.
Source: EurActiv
Read more
More on the Millennium Development Goals
- EPA: West Africa ministers meet to revive negotiations
2013-10-03
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
Ministers of the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) discussed the latest proposals to revive stalled negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) during an extraordinary session in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, on Monday 30 September.
The enlarged meeting of the Council of Ministers, comprising ministers responsible for finance and trade as well as ministers responsible for regional integration in member states, also talked about the regional five-band Common External Tariff (CET), which was approved by ministers of finance in March 2013, and the Monetary Cooperation Programme for the establishment of an ECOWAS single currency.
The meeting was called to prepare the next extraordinary summit of Heads of State and Government of the region scheduled to take place in Dakar, Senegal, on the 25 October 2013, and which will take decisions on the remaining issues. The outcome of the summit should enable the region to resume the ten-year-old EPA negotiations for a trade regime between West Africa and Europe and compatible with the Word Trade Organization (WTO).
EPAs negotiations stalled over several points of disagreement:
- The first challenge is the size and duration of market access offer: the EU is insisting on a minimum 80% liberalization while ECOWAS has shifted its position to 75% from an initial 60% as a gesture of good faith.
- There is also the litigious issue of the Most Favoured Nation clause, an EU request to enjoy trade preferences offered by West Africa to other trading partners.
- An important concern is the size and funding for the EPAs Development Programme. West Africa is asking for some 16 billion Euros in new injection of funds to overcome the cost of adjustment to the forthcoming trade regime, while EU however, insists that existing funding under its phased Development window is sufficient.
- West Africa is then pleading for a phased tariff dismantling process and the exclusion of some products in order to protect its emerging industrial sector from being wiped off by imports from the more competitive European industries.
Both sides missed opportunities in 2007 and 2009 to conclude the Agreement, part of a World Trade Organization-compliant trade regime that will replace previous trade arrangements between them. As the negotiations dragged on, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana have signed interim agreements with the EU leaving the region with four trade regimes that could stifle the region’s effort to create a common market. Europe is the main trading partner of West Africa’s, taking in 33.3% of its exports, mainly agricultural products, while accounting for 32.7% of the region’s imports mainly vehicles, parts, machinery and capital goods.
Source: Afrique Jet
Read more
EU: progress towards finalizing EPAs with Ecowas
West Africa holds out over EU trade deal demands
- Tariff increases on imported chicken in South Africa
2013-10-03
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies announced on Monday tariff increases— of an overall average rise of 8.75 percentage point— on five categories of imported chicken products to protect local poultry producers. However the measure do not apply to the huge amount of European Poultry imports.
Mr Davies stressed that the level of the tariff increases had to strike "an appropriate balance" in limiting the price-raising effects on poor households while ensuring that domestic producers are placed on an improved competitive footing compared to their foreign counterparts.
The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) CEO Kevin Lovell claims that and the increases are too tiny and would apply to less than 6% of local consumption. Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of South Africa CEO David Wolpert opposed the hikes as they held they would result in higher prices and hurt the poor.
While not hitting the main target, the tariff revision is also likely to alienate South Africa’s South American trading partners, particularly Brazil and Argentina, which have already complained bitterly about expected hikes, Business Day Live reports.
South African poultry producers were advocating for an increase of trade barriers to stem the massive amount of cheap poultry imports reaching their shores. APA estimates that about 80% of all chicken imports are from Europe.
European chicken enters South Africa duty-free under the bilateral trade, development and co-operation agreement between the EU and South Africa. SAPA is calling for the use safeguard measures provided for in the EU-SA agreement to deal with what the association claims is dumping.
Source: Business Day Live
Read more
EU subsidy policy and disastrous effects on Ghana poultry sector
- A Caribbean pavilion at Anuga food show
2013-10-02
NEWSLETTER_CATEGORIES : ACP-EU Trade
The Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) will bring the Caribbean Kitchen Pavilion to the 2013 ANUGA Food Show at the Koelnmesse exhibition center in Cologne, Germany on the 5th to 9th October 2013. 12 Caribbean food suppliers from 7 different countries will sample a range of beverages, condiments and selected items. This trade fair will give the opportunity to European professionals to sample first-hand the diverse flavors found within the Caribbean region.
The range of products that visitors to ANUGA will be able to experience includes condiments such as hot sauces, jerk seasonings, marinades, jams and jellies oozing with traditional flavors made from regional produce. In terms of the beverage sections local coffees, teas, and of course Caribbean rum, beer and malt will also be present.
Caribbean Export has once again partnered with German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to facilitate the presence of Caribbean brands at ANUGA and they “look forward to the signing of many contracts at the event and are proud that the ANUGA trade fair to be held in Germany shall provide the setting ground within which such opportunities may take place.” (Ginelle Greene, GIZ Private Sector Officer).
Anuga is the world’s largest and most important food and beverage fair with around 6,700 exhibitors from about 100 countries. The show will be open from Saturday 5th October to Wednesday 9th October.
Source: The Bahamas Weekly
Read more
More on Caribbean Export
More on ANUGA Food Show
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Ms Isolina BOTO
Head
CTA Brussels Office
39 rue Montoyer
1000 Brussels - Belgium
Tel: +32 (0) 2 513 74 36 (direct); Fax +32 (0) 2 511 38 68
E-mail: boto@cta.int
Website: http://www.cta.int/
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Brussels Briefings: http://brusselsbriefings.net/
Editor: Etienne GOFFIN (goffin@cta.int)
NOTE
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Copyright © 2011 Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU. Email:cta@cta.int
The opinions expressed in the comments and analysis are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CTA.
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