First Meeting of the Special COMESA Ministerial Sub-committee on EPA
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Patrick Pillay, was at the head of a three-strong delegation representing Seychelles at the First Meeting of the Special COMESA Ministerial Sub-committee on Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which was held recently in Lusaka, Zambia.
Minister Pillay was accompanied at the February 10 meeting by his Special Adviser, Miss Vivianne Fock-Tave, and Mr Charles Morin, director general for Trade in the Ministry of Finance and Trade.
The Ministerial Sub-committee, established during the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) Council of Ministers last November, is composed of ministers responsible for the negotiation of EPA from Djibouti, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe – 8 of the 16 countries forming the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) configuration, which are also member countries of the COMESA.
The main objective of the Ministerial Sub-committee is to oversee the EPA negotiation process with a view to ensuring that the process progresses well, in line with agreed guidelines and set negotiation objectives.
The Ministerial Sub-committee is, therefore, to take stock of developments in the process on a regular basis and to provide political advice and guidance on any issues which could contribute to the successful conclusion of the ESA negotiations.
The Sub-committee has a key role to play in maintaining the togetherness of the region by primarily working towards narrowing any substantial differences among ESA countries.
According to a communiqué from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the establishment of the Sub-committee and its first meeting came at the right moment, now that there is an urgent need for the ACP (Africa, Caribbean & Pacific) regions/sub-regions that are negotiating EPAs with the EU to evaluate the outcomes of the process so far, including the conclusion of Interim Agreements between the EC (European Commission) and some ACP regions, sub-regions or individual countries and their possible implications for the EPA negotiations process and the agreed negotiation objectives, such as that relating to the need for EPAs to support and complement existing ACP regional integration initiatives.
In this connection, it is to be recalled that all the ACP-EPA regions, with the exception of the Caribbean region, were unable to conclude an EPA with the EC by December 31, 2007, the deadline set by the Cotonou Partnership Agreement for the conclusion of EPA negotiations.
The respective ACP-EPA configurations were confronted by a number of difficulties, which hindered progress in the negotiation process and as a result, a number of issues remained to be resolved even as the process neared the set deadline.
In its first meeting in Lusaka, the Ministerial Sub-Committee discussed the implementation of the Interim Agreement and the need for convening a joint COMESA-SADC-EAC (East African Community) Meeting of Ministers responsible for EPAs, in order to review the status of EPA negotiations and its implication on regional integration as well as to discuss the coordination and harmonisation of the region’s position in the negotiation of a comprehensive EPA.
The Ministerial Sub-Committee also reviewed the negotiating structure of the ESA configuration with a view to ensure effectiveness and efficiency of the EPA negotiations. The recommendations of the meeting will be presented to the ESA Council early March this year, just before the Ministers meet with Commissioner Mandelson, who is in charge of the EPA negotiations on the European Commission’s side.
