African negotiators began a three- day meeting in Nairobi to forge a common position ahead of a World Trade Organizations (WTO) meeting to enable them seal a framework global trade agreement by end of April.

During the meeting, the African trade experts called for a new pact guaranteeing open market for exports from the continent and decried the lack of goodwill among the main players in the global trade arena to grant open market access.

Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi and African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry Elizabeth Tankeu said Wednesday Africa would no longer be party to flawed trading pacts that do not take the continent's development agenda into consideration.

"It is my sincere hope that all the member states shall ensure that Africa will only conclude trade arrangements with the European Union which reflect our collective and common positions on the various issues," Tankeu said.

"I need not emphasize that the very survival of Africa in this globalizing world lies in solidarity, the full development of regional markets and strengthening its international competitiveness. I urge you to give serious consideration to further energizing the process of economic integration in Africa," she said.

The African trade experts are meeting to review the progress made in the conclusion of the Doha Development Round of talks on enhancing market access and cutting down on hefty farm and agricultural subsidies enjoyed by the farmers in the rich states.

"The emerging scenario is that there seems to be no goodwill among the players to take positive steps towards agreement on the substance of the negotiations especially in agriculture and the NonAgricultural Market Access (NAMA)," Kituyi said.

He spoke of the need for countries to build on national, regional and continental efforts with an aim of achieving the continent's long-term goals of having equitable trade with the rest of the world by addressing unjust policies induced by the global trading systems.

Kituyi, a leading personality in the global trade negotiations, who also spearheaded the negotiations for market access during the December World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference in Hong Kong, said Africa needs a new global trade pact.

"The substantive issue between Africa and our development partners is to negotiate for a fair playing field in trade. Africa is supposed to have a comparative advantage in agricultural and primary commodities but the developed countries provide subsidies thus African farmers cannot compete," he said in a speech read by an assistant minister Abdul Ali Hassan.

Africa is considering the setting up of a Pan African Common Market, a move which would galvanize the continent into a single destination with similar taxation systems.

The proposed free market ideal is based on the pending minimum integration plan.

According to Tankeu, the AU is formulating the minimum integration plan based on a time frame to be agreed and formatted in accordance with Article 6 of the Abuja Treaty.

"The very survival of Africa in this globalizing world lies in its solidarity, the full development of its regional markets and in strengthening of its international competitiveness," Tankeu said.

The experts also underscored the need for trade facilitation as agreed during the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization.

The African trade experts are meeting to prepare the agenda for trade ministers who will meet with WTO officials later this weekend.

The Africa Union meeting, which brings together 52 trade ministers from all over the continent, will discuss how Africa's interests can be safeguarded in the WTO talks and in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations with Europe.

Source: Xinhua