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TRADE-AFRICA: EPA Threatens to Tear Apart Oldest Customs Union
By Aileen Kwa*
GENEVA - The fate of the world’s oldest customs union, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), is hanging in the balance as a result of the economic partnership agreements that most SACU countries have signed with the European Union (EU).
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TRADE-MALAWI: Aid Will Not Be Conditional Upon Signing of EPAs
By Pilirani Semu-Banda
LILONGWE - The European Commission (EC) has assured Malawi that the country will continue receiving cooperation aid even if it does not sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union.
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Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet
Interview with Glenys Kinnock, Member of the European Parliament
BRUSSELS - White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
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TRADE: Doha Talks Sweating Over Tropical Products
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA - The hot potato these days in the Doha Round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations is tropical products, a burning issue for the world’s poorest countries.
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TRADE-AFRICA: Conflicting Views Over EPAs in French Government
By Hilaire Avril
PARIS - As it prepares to assume the presidency of the European Union in July one of the main issues on France’s agenda will be the economic partnership agreements (EPAs). But with less than three months to go, France’s official position concerning EPAs is still surprisingly unclear.
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DEVELOPMENT: Views Clash at UNCTAD Over What’s Best for Africa
By Francis Kokutse
ACCRA - ‘‘Africa is not a basket case. The continent is just suffering from the effects of events that it has no hand in and cannot control.’’
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EUROPE: Trade Policy Backs Western Firms
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS - The European Union is using trade policy to ensure that western firms enjoy considerable leverage over the economies of poor countries, a new report has alleged.
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TRADE-AFRICA: EU Embarks on EPA Charm Offensive
By David Cronin
BRUSSELS - After attracting a steady flow of criticism for its handling of trade talks with Africa, the European Commission has gone on something of a charm offensive lately.
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TRADE: EU Aims to Rope in African States Resisting EPAs
Analysis by Aileen Kwa*
GENEVA - The European Union is determined to get those African countries on board which have so far kicked against the economic partnership agreements (EPAs). At the end of 2007, only 35 out of 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries had initialled EPAs.
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TRADE-AFRICA: EU Still Pushing Offensive Interests in EPA Talks
Analysis by Aileen Kwa*
GENEVA - The European Union (EU) has an ambitious agenda for the economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations. It is pushing for the conclusion of full agreements in the next one to three years, covering everything from services to ‘‘trade-related’’ issues such as investment, competition and government procurement.
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TRADE: EPAs Born of EU’s Concern with China in Africa
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN - The European Union (EU) is concerned about competing with China for access to resources and markets in Africa, which partly explains its drive to hook African states into the trade deals called economic partnership agreements (EPAs).
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TRADE-AFRICA: ''EPAs Are Not About Partnership''
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN - The economic partnership agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated between Europe and its former colonies in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions are not about equal partnerships but about enabling ‘‘big giant Europe to gain better access to African markets’’.
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TRADE-AFRICA: International Call for Action Against EPAs
By Miriam Mannak
CAPE TOWN - African and international civil society organisations have adopted a call for action, urging the rest of the world to redouble its efforts to stop the European Union's drive to institute economic partnership agreements (EPAs).
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News in RSS The Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and the former colonies of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region (ACP) are supposed to be in place soon. According to Brussels, they are an opportunity for these countries to shun isolation and expand access to international markets. But the ACP countries are anxious about being strangled by EPA rules.

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POLITICS: Burma Fears Politicisation of Humanitarian Crisis
POLITICS-US: Venezuelan Student Feted - and Faulted
EUROPE: Home to Roma, And No Place for Them
MIDEAST: Amid Rocket Attacks, Israel Ponders Peace
CLIMATE CHANGE-EUROPE: There's Money in Emissions
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PERU: Women - The Guardians of Potato Biodiversity
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News in RSS
EU-AFRICA-CARIBBEAN-PACIFIC TRADE: UNEQUAL PARTNERS, UNFAIR RULES
    by Luisa Morgantini


AFRICAN COUNTRIES SHOULD MOVE SLOWLY IN SERVICES TRADE TALKS WITH EU
    by Joy Kategekwa


EUROPE SELF-SERVING IN TRADE TALKS WITH AFRICA
    by Demba Moussa Dembele
Oxfam analysis of EU and EPAs
ACP Treaties
Transnational Institute
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