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Between a rock and a hard place: Africa faces no win situation in trade deal with Europe
Nancy Kachingwe, Programme Officer, MWENGO
April 26, 2003

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Background
This is the launch issue of the Economic Policy Project Feature Series on the trade negotiations between the European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group that were launched in September last year.

In the discussions that we have had amongst ourselves as African civil society networks, we are sceptical about the real gains that are to be had in signing up Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union. In fact, our assessment is that the overall impact of these EPAs will be negative, based on the catastrophic experience of trade liberalisation in the region so far.

We are also concerned that EPAs carry within them policy proposals from the EU that have already been rejected by developing countries in the World Trade Organisation. In my conversations with various government officials from the region, I personally have not been given a clear indication that our governments are genuinely convinced that EPAs are going to bring real benefits for Africa's economic and social development.

In our assessment the fact that our governments have agreed to negotiate EPAs with the European Union is really because of issues of power relations and dependency, rather than real economic gain, except perhaps for those local individuals and businesses that are well positioned to take advantage of trade liberalisation.

We are aware that this is a somewhat obscure subject and that these negotiations are taking place far away from public scrutiny and media attention. This does not make the implications any less serious for our future!!!

We hope that this paper will help to stimulate greater public debate in the region about the impact of trade agreements on the one hand, and on the other, start to pose the fundamental question of what our governments can or can't sign onto in our names.

For more information
The East and Southern Africa Civil Society Economic Policy Project, launched in July 2002 in Nairobi is a collaborative project between NGOs, people's movements and regional networks working on development, rights and social justice. The overall goals are:

• to build a critical mass of civil society organisations in the region to advocate for people-centred economic policies and programmes
• to foster collaboration between NGOs, the media, academics, churches, unions and various social movements so that ordinary people are better informed and demand accountability on economic policy.

This feature series will cover various topics relating to economic and social development, and will carry papers by social justice activists from the African continent.

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For more information about the project, please contact the project coordinator:
Thomas Deve on:
thomas@mwengo.org.zw
Tel: 263-4-721469 / Fax: 263-4-738310

Visit the MWENGO fact sheet

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