Ex-European colonies under pressure for new trade deals
Afp, Brussels
Caribbean and Pacific nations face growing pressure to strike a deal on new trade accords with the European Union before the end of the year or risk losing preferential treatment, experts say. The 78-nation ACP group, made up mostly of former European colonies, have benefitted from preferential access to EU markets since the signing of the Lome accord in 1975. But other equally poor countries, mostly in Latin America, have contested the ACPs' preferential treatment and have won backing from the World Trade Organisation. In 2001, the world trade referee gave the EU until the end of this year to come up with a new framework that would be more compatible with international rules of commerce. After their WTO defeat, the Europeans and the ACP opened talks in 2002 for new so-called economic partnership agreements, which are being conducted by regions -- eastern, central and southern Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. But with the year-end deadline looming, there is still a lot of work to be done. "The prospects for actually completing the negociations in time seem slim", said the Maastricht-based European Centre for Development Policy Management in a recent report. Negotiations are due to heat up on Thursday when ACP and EU trade ministers meet in Brussels to try to give a new boost to the talks.
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