ACP-EC COTONOU AGREEMENT AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN AND COUNCIL OF PACIFIC GROUP OF STATES THE EUROPEAN UNION Brussels, 14 April 2003 ACP/61/052/03 ACP-CE 2116/03 MINUTES of the : 4th meeting of the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee on : 1 March 2003 place : Castries, Saint Lucia Subject : Minutes of the 4th meeting of the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee The Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee (JMTC) held its fourth meeting in St Lucia on 1 March 2003 under the Chairmanship of Commissioner Pascal LAMY, Member of the European Commission. Honourable Mr. Bello Bouba Maïgari, State Minister for Industrial and Trade Development of Cameroon acted as spokesman for the ACP States. A list of participants at the meeting is given in Annex I. ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 1 DG E II EN Opening statements Honourable Senator Julian R. Hunte, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia recalled that the ACP States and the EU share a common vision of promoting development within the framework of mutual cooperation and partnership. Referring to compliance to WTO rules, he considered necessary to ensure that no alien logic takes over the essence of the ACP-EU dialogue and determine the nature of ACP-EU relationship. He stressed the importance of not leaving this issue to the regulatory provisions which have never adequately appreciated the constraints and needs of the most vulnerable countries such as small islands developing States. Honourable Mr. Bello Bouba Maïgari, State Minister for Industrial and Trade Development of Cameroun, Co-Chairman of the Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee informed that the instruments for ratification of the Cotonou agreement were deposited on 27 February and noted with satisfaction that the fourth Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee meeting takes place exactly one month before the Cotonou agreement will entry into force on 1 April 2003. Minister Bello Bouba Maïgari recalled that the Committee is in charge of the follow-up of the Economic Partnership Agreements negotiations, of the WTO negotiations as well as the implementation of trade measures of the Cotonou agreement. He pointed to the large number of Less Developed Countries in the ACP Group and to the importance for these countries to benefit from the necessary resources to overcome the difficulties they would have to face in trade liberalisation. He considered that compatibility with WTO rules will have to be sought through consideration of the specific condition of the ACP States and solidarity between the ACP States in all major issues such as trade in agricultural products, regional trade agreements, special and differential agreements, intellectual property rights. He pointed in particular to the need for cooperation between the ACP States and the EU in the preparation of the WTO Ministerial Conference and to the "maintien de l'acquis" of the Lomé Convention in the implementation of the Cotonou agreement. ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 2 DG E II EN Honourable Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, expressed appreciation for the support that the ACP-EU Group has provided to Saint Lucia and Windward islands' banana sector as well as gratitude to the European Union for its support to the efforts in supporting the commercialisation of banana, while creating new economic activities. He conveyed the ACP concerns about the multilateral trade negotiations which he believes have been fuelled more by the traditional market-opening agenda than by genuine concern to understand and effectively tackle the needs of the weakest countries. Referring to the proposed modalities for WTO negotiations on agriculture, he explained that many ACP countries consider agricultural production essential for the survival of rural national economies and reminded that agriculture provides considerable employment and rural income and permits the generation of earnings essential for funding imports and domestic investment activities. He summarised his views by declaring that the ACP Group is aiming at a fairer trade regulatory system that contributes more to economic growth and that development should be the focus of negotiations. As regards free trade area agreements, Prime Minister Anthony stressed that special differential treatment should be applied to small vulnerable countries which should not necessarily provide reciprocity in agreements with large, more advanced countries. ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 3 DG E II EN 1. Adoption of the Provisional Agenda (ACP-CE 2111/03 ACP/61/029/03) The agenda was approved. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the 3rd Joint ACP-EC Ministerial Trade Committee (ACP-CE 2189/02 - ACP/61/114/02) The minutes were approved. 3. Negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements i) Status of the EPA negotiations Minister Bello Bouba Maïgari informed that the Group of Ambassadors held four meetings on, inter alia, the following issues: the content of negotiations, legal issues, working documents prepared by the Commission and the development dimension. He reported that the results of these meetings were examined by the ACP Trade Ministerial Committee and discussion lead to the following conclusions: a) content of negotiations: the ACP Group believes all issues raised by each side and horizontal issues of interest to the ACP Group must be examined during the first phase, if the second phase is to start on a sound base; b) legal issues: it is necessary to agree on the means to meet the objectives of ACP sustainable development, poverty eradication and progressive smooth integration of ACP States in the world economy. The results of the Doha conference should also be considered and WTO negotiations on regional trade agreements should allow to contribute to new WTO compatible EPAs, which do not affect the interests of the ACP States; ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 4 DG E II EN c) working documents prepared by the Commission: the discussion can be continued at Ambassadors level; d) development dimension of EPAs: the ACP side agreed, in principle, to the development objective of EPAs. Commissioner Lamy reminded that when the EPAs discussions were launched, on 27 September 2002, a set of principles were agreed: - a two-tier approach, with discussions at the all-ACP level at the beginning, followed by negotiations on a regional level; - a three-level structure of the all-ACP tier: ministerial, ambassadorial and technical. He added that the ACP and the EU might have had different views on how phase one would be followed by phase two, with the ACP group believing a formal conclusion of phase one would be necessary whereas for the EU the end of discussion/exploratory phase one would not be a pre-condition for moving to phase two. To the contrary, the first all-ACP phase could continue in order to reply to remaining questions, even after the regional negotiations had started it would even become more useful then (because there will be more specific issues arising from the regional negotiations). The ACP had been right about the need to have a first phase to discuss and clarify issues but, looking at work done since September, it was becoming necessary to move into regional negotiations, and the Commission was ready to do so after the WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun. Commissioner Lamy stressed that it would be a mistake to turn the first-phase discussions into a fully-fledged negotiation, which must be more focused. Overall discussions in Brussels can be useful to prepare the ground, but the future EPAs should not be determined in Brussels. EPAs have to be defined in the regions and in the countries concerned. Discussions must be followed by regional negotiations. ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 5 DG E II EN Those regions that have not decided on the geographical configuration could do so in the coming months. This requires political leadership and long-term vision of economic development and international cooperation. Most regions have already established working or steering groups to prepare negotiations. Their work will probably need to contribute to the political decision-making process of the individual regions. It would be useful to nominate one contact group per region to work in the preparations of the regional phase. In this context it is also important to involve business and civil society in the preparation process. Commissioner Lamy stressed that the role of Ministers is crucial. The issues at stake are complex; some of them are very technical but also highly political in other respects. The involvement of Ministers is crucial to move the process forward. Minister Malie from Lesotho pointed to differences in degree of preparation for the second phase among ACP countries and wondered if for some ACP regions the structures would be ready in time. Commissioner Lamy acknowledged the difficulty some ACP countries are facing. He reassured that there is no undue pressure and it will be up to the ACP countries to take decisions on the mandate and on the negotiating structure to be set up. He also anticipated that, when the process will start in September, the ACP Group will not be split between the countries that have a structure and those that have not. Minister Bello Bouba Maïgari clarified that the ACP side does not question the opportunity to delve into regional negotiations. He considered, however, the second phase should only begin when progress has been achieved and appealed to coherence, stating that the concerns of the ACP Group should be considered. ACP-CE 2116/03 ACP/61/052/03 MB/nh,sg 6 DG E II EN ii) Status of capacity building support for the EPA negotiations Minister Bello Bouba Maïgari wondered if the EU side fully understands the ACP's concerns on the means available and namely on the additional financial resources enabling to make the most out of the preparatory period and develop capacities in both the public and private sectors.