European Union (EU) trade commissioner Peter Mandelson and development commissioner Louis Michel have urged anti-poverty campaigners to support the EU's agreement that keeps tariffs low for the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions.
In an open letter to anti-poverty campaigners, Mandelson and Michel set out the arguments for a new approach to trade relations between the EU and countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, a grouping the EU refers to as the ACP.
They said that the WTO's end-of-year deadline for agreeing new arrangements could not be missed if the ACP countries were to retain the best possible access to the EU market without fear of a legal challenge from other developing countries.
The commissioners said that the EU was not threatening countries in the ACP regions with tariff rises if the two sides were unable to agree on new arrangements by the end of the year, but the legal alternatives to a new agreement were less generous than the current system, which has been challenged by non-ACP developing countries and must end in 2008.
"We promised non-ACP developing countries seven years ago that we would put in place a new system compatible with WTO rules by the end of this year," they wrote.
"They expect us to honor our promises and from January 1, 2008, when the legal waiver they have extended expired, they can and they will challenge us."
The priority for both sides were to avoid tariff rises by signing new agreements that preserve current advantages and are legal under WTO law and fair to developing countries as a whole, they said.
"Certainly, the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreements) negotiations force us to face up to difficult issues," wrote the commissioners.
"Calling for an end to EPA negotiations when there is no credible alternative is playing poker with the livelihoods of those we are trying to help," they said.
Source: Xinhua
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