President Bharrat Jagdeo in a message to the summit of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states in Ghana, on Thursday said that Guyana is unhappy about the proposed EU trade deal’s “anti-developmental character and its propensity to be inimical to Caribbean integration.”
And pointing to areas of concern President Jagdeo expressed displeasure over what he referred to as the “inclusion of ‘services’ and the ‘Singapore issues’ in the Caribbean Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), the MFN (Most Favoured Nations) clause (which will impair South-South cooperation) and the absence of provisions to address supply side deficiencies.”
And noting that they are all confronted with threats from the EU in the context of the EPAs, he underscored a greater need for ACP solidarity than ever before.
Referring to the EPA which is scheduled to be signed by Caribbean leaders on October 15, the President noted that “Guyana has indicated its unwillingness to sign a ‘full EPA’ as a matter of urgency and under threat of GSP (General Systems of Preferences) tariff sanctions.”
Jagdeo said that in the interest of compromise Guyana has offered to sign a ‘goods only’ WTO compatible agreement as some African and Pacific countries are disposed to do at this time and those positions were formally conveyed to the EU. However, he added, “they have indicated their unwillingness to conclude a goods only WTO-compatible agreement with us alone,” and threatened GSP sanctions if Guyana did not sign the full agreement.
He has since responded to the President of the Commission protesting this as “unfair and unacceptable treatment” and reiterated Guyana’s readiness to sign a goods only agreement as others have done in other regions, the message stated.
Jagdeo said further in his message delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett that then EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson claimed that he had no ‘mandate’ to accommodate Guyana’s position despite the decision of the EU Council’s conclusions at its meeting of May 26 and 27, 2008, underlining “the need for a flexible approach” in relation to “problematic issues” and calling on the Commission to “use all WTO-compatible flexibility and asymmetry in order to take account of the different needs and levels of development of the ACP countries and regions.”
This is, therefore, a matter that could affect all ACP countries, Jagdeo maintained.
“In effect,” he contended, “we are being compelled to sign what we regard as a bad agreement to save our agricultural producers (sugar and rice) from economic disaster.” But before making such a decision under duress, Jagdeo said, Guyana would like to have the benefit of the ACP discussion and has so informed its regional colleagues.
Jagdeo also referred to what he called “substantial controversy” in this region “with opposition parties, civil society, sections of the private sector, trade unions and religious bodies opposed to our signing the ‘full’ agreement.”
In the meantime, Foreign Minister Rodrigues-Birkett addressing participants at the ACP Summit at Accra said that although a CARIFORUM-EU EPA has been initialled, that did not impose a legal obligation on Guyana to consent to be bound by it in whole or in part as the problem is not legal, but political.
Guyana’s foreign minister contended that Europe wanted them all to conclude a ‘full’ EPA but for Guyana it must be one that is mutually beneficial and about genuine partnership as Cotonou promised.
Meanwhile, underscoring areas of concern with the EPA, Rodrigues-Birkett declared that “We are not opposed to an EPA with Europe, but it must be one that is developmental in its thrust, which this one is not; it must be compatible with our positions at the multilateral level, which this one is not; it must keep open the door to South-South cooperation, which this one does not; it must be consistent with our regional integration strategies, which this one is not.”
She said also that the situation that confronts Guyana is one that gives no joy having a different position to that of its Caribbean colleagues and then to be confronted in a context of ‘partnership’ with what are virtually ‘sanctions’ from Europe.
The foreign minister emphasized that Guyana seeks from Europe a genuine partnership as promised in Cotonou and one that is mutually beneficial, not the one which Europe wants to conclude. She posited that the EPA Europe is advancing is one from which Europe stands to benefit by increasing pressure on Africa.
And noting the six regions into which the ACP was broken, she said that such separatism could be overcome by solidarity and cooperation and urged that they must not allow themselves to be manipulated and kept apart in their several negotiations.
“If we do, we can only have ourselves to blame. We must not allow the demolition of ACP solidarity as Europe moves at the multilateral level to dress the global EPA in WTO clothes,” Rodrigues-Birkett said.
Guyana, the foreign minister said, believes “that the Caribbean ‘full’ EPA is more important to Europe to increase pressure on Africa than for its material gains in the Caribbean – even though for us those gains are costly. We believe a strong call from the ACP at this Summit will give Europe reason to pause.”
She expressed the hope that the ACP Summit can call on the Commission to show the ‘flexibility’ the European Council called for in facilitating those ACP countries who wanted to sign in the first instance a ‘goods only’ WTO-compatible agreement whether or not other countries of their region wished to go further.
Guyana’s foreign minister further urged the Summit to unite the ACP around “a strategy that demands equity and justice from Europe, that blunts the edge of reciprocity between unequal partners and looks more to proportionality, that preserves us all from a new European supremacy in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.”
Reuters reported on Friday that the meeting concluded that Europe should stop pressuring the world’s poorest states to sign individual trade deals and allow more time for ACP nations to agree a common negotiating platform.
A declaration by leaders of the 79-nation ACP group meeting at the summit in Ghana was also to call for undisrupted trade access to the European Union market, said Mauritius’s Foreign Affairs Minister Arvin Boolell, citing a draft of the document.
