Western Africa/ECOWAS(Ivory Coast and Ghana)
In the first phase of the negotiations from 2004 to October 2006 the focus was on regional economic integration. Five thematic groups were established to look at regional markets (free-trade area, common external tariff, trade facilitation), technical and SPS standards and measures, services and investments, other trade related issues and an analysis of the productive sector. At the West African Ministerial Meeting in October 2006, the decision was taken to proceed to the 2nd phase of negotiations which focused on the specifics of the agreement text and market access. Customs agreements and facilitation have also been discussed within the ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) area with the object of introducing a new customs code harmonizing existing customs codes, although no conclusive agreement has yet been agreed. On December 7 2007, the EU initialled a stepping stone agreement EPA with Ivory Coast and on December 13, 2008 with Ghana. These two country-specific interim EPAs are a temporary solution while negotiations to replace them with a full EPA covering the entire West African region are ongoing. The full EPA will entirely replace these interim agreements.
Negotiations for a full EPA covering all West African countries and covering trade in services, investments and trade related rules continue in 2009. Initially, ECOWAS had requested a reprieve of 3 years in order to continue the EPA negotiations however Soumaila Cisse, President of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union has stated that West African heads of State have mandated negotiations to secure a full EPA by mid-2009.
All other West African countries are LDCs with the exception of Nigeria and
Cape Verde and will be subject to Everything But Arms which offers duty free,
quota free access to the EU market due to their LDC status. Cape Verde became a
non-LDC on 1 January 2008 but was granted an extension of 3 years to benefit
from EBA. Nigeria decided not to negotiate a stepping
stone EPA. It is now subject to the GSP under WTO rules, but still benefits
from 0% tariff on oil exports which represent 95% of its exports to the EU.
ECOWAS encompasses 40% of EU-ACP
trade and is main trade region for the EU in the ACP. 4 of the ECOWAS countries
are not LDCs and constitute 80% of the regions trade with the EU. The major
issues for the EU for these negotiations have again been market access and SPS
issues. The ECOWAS countries are primarily concerned with safeguard measures to
protect infant industry in their countries with loss of revenue from customs
receipts and with regional integration. The agreements for market access are
still asymmetrical with the EU opening its market 100% and West African
countries opening a smaller percentage and only over a negotiated time period
of up to 25 years. Negotiations for the EPA have seen slow progress for a
variety of reasons. One is that there are 2 regional integration areas within
the ECOWAS, the UEMOA (an Economic and monetary union of mostly French-speaking
countries) and the others which are primarily English-speaking. The fact that
the majority of the region's countries are LDCs has also slowed down the
process as these countries have duty free quota free access to the EU market
under EBA. The third main factor in the slow down of EPA negotiations is the
dominance if Nigeria in the region and the fact that it has not yet negotiated
an interim EPA agreement. Nigeria, with a dominant oil industry, accounts for
56% of the regions GDP and thus its support is an essential requirement of
concluding the EPA, Nigeria has expressed concern over loss of revenue from
customs, loss of control over its development policy and possible detriment to
its nascent industries from the EPA.
