Namibia: Trade Impasse - EU Hits Back
The Namibian | 25 June 2009
Namibia: Trade Impasse - EU Hits Back
Jo-MarÉ Duddy25 June 2009
THE European Commission (EC) has lashed out at Trade and Industry Minister Hage Geingob, claiming he knew all along that they would not give written assurances on the concessions on infant industry protection, food security, export taxes and the free flow of goods agreed to in the interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations.
Besides other obstacles, Geingob has cited the EC’s refusal to amend the interim EPA text or add an annex to the existing one, safeguarding Namibia’s interests, as one of the major stumbling blocks in concluding the trade deal.
His insistence, like that of Angola and South Africa, caused a deadlock in the negotiations.
On Tuesday, the matter was referred to the Cabinet Committee on Overall Policy and Priorities, chaired by President Hifikepunye Pohamba, and thereafter Cabinet.
Asked to respond to Geingob’s concerns, EC Trade Commissioner Spokesperson Lutz Güllner told The Namibian that Catherine Ashton "was always clear that amending the interim EPA initialled by the parties (including Namibia) at the end of 2007 was not feasible".
He said this was the basis for the discussions at Swakopmund in March, which resulted in the various concessions.
"Namibia as one of the SADC-EPA states agreed to this as a basis for proceeding," Güllner said in an e-mail from Brussels.
In the same breath he reminded Namibia that the country has "benefited for over 18 months from the improved and complete access to European Union (EU) markets provided under the EPA trade regime on the basis of a commitment to sign the initialled text".
Geingob has repeatedly said Namibia is willing to sign the interim EPA as soon as the country’s interests are adequately considered.
Contrary to what Güllner said in his e-mail, Namibia has not initialled the interim EPA.
The country provisionally initialled the interim agreement in December 2007 to ensure that its beef, fish and table grapes continued to enjoy access to EU markets after the Cotonou Agreement lapsed that year.
This will not continue indefinitely, Güllner warned recently.
"It is obvious that these preferences cannot be maintained for an unlimited time," he said in an earlier e-mail to The Namibian.
Meanwhile, Geingob has stressed that Namibia is not alone in its concerns.
During a ministerial statement in Parliament on Tuesday, he quoted from a letter of the representatives of the 156-member African-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) and EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (ACP-EU JPA) to Ashton.
In the letter, ACP-EU JPA Co-Presidents Glenys Kinnock and Wilie Rasmussen say: "As far as the SADC interim EPA is concerned, you clearly reconfirmed your willingness to include an annex, or a declaration, to be attached to the initialled EPA. That addition will include strong, clear references to the contentious issues which had been subsequently negotiated in Swakopmund, and agreed by all parties."
Kinnock and Rasmussen continue: "If the Commission (EC) continue to maintain that changes cannot be made before signature, then ACP countries would appreciate strong and unequivocal written assurances from (EC) President (Manuel) Barosso that what had been agreed, including the contents of the annex, would be respected by the Commission."
