Africa's largest trading bloc the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has urged the European Union (EU) to conclude an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) deal that will be accepted and covering all key areas that were important to the development of countries in east and southern Africa, the Post of Zambia reported on Wednesday.
Recently, the EU signed an interim EPA with some countries from The Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region. Those that signed were Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Madagascar while Zambia and Comoros indicated that they would sign at a later stage
COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya said "there were still more outstanding issues before a full ESA-EU EPA agreement was signed.
"The challenge we face between now and the signing of the full ESA-EU EPA is to introduce the economic component, through improved market access, development and deeper regional integration and to make EPAs a true partnership. If we cannot do this we will not be able to take advantage of the full potential of EPAs," Ngwenya was quoted as saying by the paper.
According to Ngwenya, the most important outcomes of the EPAs were supposed to be deepening and strengthening regional integration, improving market access into the EU or at least having equivalent access to that enjoyed under the Cotonou Agreement.
He further said ESA countries expect to have a development component in the EPA that will address supply side issues and improving trade in services and trade-related issues, adding that although Europe was an important market, there was need to distinguish between market access for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and developing countries.
Source: Xinhua
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