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Ghana signs interim EPA trade deal
with EU
Accra, Dec. 13, Ghanadot/GNA - Ghana on Thursday signed an
interim trade deal to liberalise 80 per cent of its trade
with the European Union (EU), which in turn has offered 100
per cent quota-free and duty-free access to Ghanaian goods,
except sugar and rice.
The signing followed weeks of negotiations between the two
sides in a move to safeguard the country's exports after
preferential trade terms expire at the end of this year.
Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, Minister of Trade, Industry, and the
head of the EU delegation in Ghana, Filiberto Ceriani
Sebregondi, initialled the deal, which they described as a
Stepping Stone Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), at the
Castle, Osu.
It covers goods only and will be replaced by a comprehensive
EPA when it is concluded.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) deems favourable EU trade
terms for nearly 80 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries
illegal and a waiver expires on Dec. 31.
The EU had hoped to sign WTO-compliant EPAs with six
regional blocs covering a host of trade and investment
issues, but negotiations with West Africa and other regions
have missed the deadline.
"This stepping stone agreement helps therefore to avoid
serious trade disruption between Ghana and the European
Union," said Mr Joe Baidoe-Ansah, whose portfolio also
covers Private Sector Development and President’s Special
Initiatives.
Ghana has become the second West African country to sign an
interim agreement, as developing countries rush to prevent
disruption in their exports to the EU, the world's biggest
trading bloc.
Neighbouring Ivory Coast was the first in the region to
initial an interim trade deal in goods last week, in a move
some said broke ranks with the position of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that the deadline
should be extended to allow for broader negotiations.
But ECOWAS Commission President Mohamed Ibn Chambas told the
Ghana News Agency in an interview that the community
supported specific interim arrangements to allow exports of
goods only to continue, so long as they did not pre-empt
talks on a broader regional EPA text.
"We definitely do not object to these individual
negotiations with the EU, while we continue to engage our
European partners in order to resolve the thorny issues
around the substantive EPA," Dr Chambas said, adding that
regional-level talks would resume on December 17.
He said both Ivory Coast and Ghana had assured his
Commission that they were only signing an interim deal to
prevent the disruption of direct trading of goods after
December 31.
"We are very much concern and share in their view that there
should be some interim arrangement put in place, otherwise
the livelihood of the people could be jeopardised," Dr
Chambas said, citing Ivory Coast's troubled past which, he
added, needed uninterrupted flow of trade income to make up
for the loss.
Dr Chambas said while encouraging interim trade deals by
individual countries, ECOWAS expected to see those countries
in solidarity with the "common position" of the bloc in its
call for an extension of the deadline and the removal of
some of the proposals deemed inimical to the region's
investment rules and integration process.
"We have made it clear to our members that they should leave
the negotiations on the EPA for ECOWAS and we'd continue to
repeat this point to ensure regional solidarity.
He added: "We are happy to hear that Ghana has insisted on
our position regarding the Singapore issue. It must be
negotiated and we do not intend to back down on this."
He said it was significant that every member country should
only negotiate and sign deals that are in the best interest
of their people.
Nigeria, ECOWAS’ biggest economy, has shunned any deal and
its huge oil exports would be unaffected.
Like the deal struck last week by Ivory Coast, Ghana's
interim agreement provides for the immediate abolition of
tariffs on virtually all exports to Europe, and for the
gradual dismantling over 15 years of tariffs on 80 percent
of imports from the 27-member bloc.
The remaining 20 percent of imports are deemed "sensitive
products" which will be subject to tariffs even after the
15-year transition period to promote economic development,
food security, employment and government revenue generation.
The deal also abolished quotas on Ghana's banana and tuna
exports, meaning the country could ship as much of those
products to the EU as it could sell, Mr Sebregondi told
reporters.
Even after Dec. 1, the poorest countries will still qualify
for preferential trade terms under Europe's "everything but
arms" initiative, making it more urgent for the slightly
better off countries to strike alternative trade deals.
GNA
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