Civil society in Africa has always taken a firm stand against Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The message was no different at a recent media workshop hosted by EJN in April 2009, when trade experts, journalists and members of civil society heard that the media ought to play a stronger role in educating the public about the harmful consequences of trade agreements.  In particular, workshop participants learned that EPAs undermine regional integration. 

Richard Kamidza, a development policy consultant, said EPAs have caused a disintegration of regional communities. For example, in the SADC region, “Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius Zambia and Zimbabwe opted to negotiate under the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) –EPA group, while the DRC is now with CEMAC.”

Kamidza stressed that this sort of clustering of countries further complicates the trade negotiations and overtly sidelines any regional integration initiatives that were in place.

EPAs emerged from the Cotonou Agreement, which began in 2000 shortly after the IV Lome Convention expired.  EPAs are often thought of as being capable of promoting deeper regional integration among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. It was expected that the trade agreements would be sensitive to the enormous economic imbalance between the European Union (EU) and the ACP countries, while remaining compatible with the World Trade Organization (WTO).

But EPAs have proven to be insensitive, and this has been shown by African counties leaving their original regional blocks, for those that offer them a comparative advantage.

Kamidza also stated that the EU is using psychological warfare. He was concerned that “the EU was playing one region against the other, as well putting them in competition against each other”. While healthy competition is encouraged, experts agreed that true competition would be fostered if South-South trade relations were strengthened first. Suggestions included a customs union for each region and a common external tariff on goods and services.

Supporting Kamidza’s point, Percy Makombe, programme manager at the EJN, explained that ‘‘there is a need to develop our local markets first.” Only once trade in the region has been strengthened can there be unquestionable competition between the negotiating parties.

The negotiations are already behind schedule as the initial deadline was 31 December 2007. EJN will continue to follow up on the negotiations in each region. However, journalists were urged to do the same and keep the public up to date on these negotiations.