The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation Pascal Laamy has cautioned Trade Ministers of the African, Caribbean States to stay within the multilateral trade regimes of WTO if they are not sure of the dangers of the bilateral negotiations of the Economic Partnership Agreements.
He said the world trade body has no position on the sticky and controversial free trade negotiations between the European Union and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States.
Speaking at the ACP group of Ministers meeting in Brussels, Mr Lamy said "It is a dangerous ground for me because both sides are pulling me to support their arguments, which I cannot go further in terms of advising you because I'm suppose to be in the middle".
According to the WTO boss, it is up to the ACP trade Ministers and the European Commission to assess their own risk in negotiating for a free trade arrangement, which he says cannot be quantified due to the risks of litigations after the expiration of the current trade regime in December 31 this year.
"Unilateral trade preferences are accepted by the WTO if they apply to all countries in similar economic circumstances".
'It"s a decision you have to take based on your assessment of your interest in terms of what you gave and what you got", Mr Lamy said.
With less than two moths before the official deadline to complete the EPA negotiations, questions are still being asked on the nature, scope, and possible impact of the free trade agreement to be signed this year by the European Union and its ACP partners.
Ghana’s Trade Minister Joe Baidoe-Ansah told The Statesman in an interview that Ghana and for that matter ECOWAS will not accede to the implementation of a full Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union before the expiration of the December deadline.
"Our countries are not ready for a full EPA and the common position is that we are not signing any full trade deals with the European Union when we are not ready" Mr Baidoe-Ansah said.
But fuming Ivoirean Ambassador to the meeting, Agosset Marie who stormed out of the meeting disappointed said Ivory Coast is ready for the EPA and that Cote d’Ivoire is ready to do business with the European Union.
She said her country has indicated its preparedness to sign up to the EPA’s without delay, which according to her has stalled country’s trade and development.
Last week an European Communication acknowledged that it will not be possible to conclude full EPA’s in all regions this year, and proposed to focus on concluding interim agreements covering market access for goods now, and negotiate the rest of the agenda inn 2008.
Substantial differences still exist between the negotiating positions of the European Union and the ACP countries have anticipated that they will need more time to even complete a goods-only agreement in the given time frame.
Trade Union leaders from African have also called on the European Union to a step back and change the direction of the negotiations.
The leaders from nine countries including Ghana issued a communiqué to coincide with the meeting of ACP trade Ministers in Brussels, which is considered a crucial point in the negotiations.
According to the communique, "Whilst agreeing on the one hand that the conclusion of full EPA’s is simple impossible, the European Union has not in any way lowered its ambition regarding the type of trade they wish to conclude. They still wan to do a comprehensive deal on all the issues which developing countries have fought for years to keep out of the WTO negotiations, which include investment government procurement, competition and public service".
The Communique added that EPA’s will have dire consequences for African economies and that the liberalisation of tariffs on goods including agriculture will threaten small farmers and infant industries and spell disaster for some of the most fragile economies.
According to the statement the rapid loss of government revenue will paralyse government abilities to invest in education, health and decent jobs, which are crucial to sustainable development.
