Decision on the Negotiations of ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)

Jurisdiction
African Regional Bodies · African Union (AU)
Citation
EX.CL/Dec.172 (VI)
Regional Body / Author
Executive Council of the African Union
Date
28 January 2005
Language
English
Type
Decision

DECISION ON THE NEGOTIATIONS OF ACP-EU
ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS (EPAs)
Doc, EX.CL/152 (VI)

The Executive Council:

  1. TAKES NOTE of the Report;

  2. COMMENDS the Commission and the RECs for concluding the establishment of an informal Coordination and Information Exchange Mechanism on EPA Negotiations with the European Union (EU) for which the Commission has been entrusted the coordinating role and also for holding the first meeting of the mechanism successfully;

  3. ENDORSES the recommendations of the Commission/RECs meeting and URGES the Commission to:

  • Develop institutional capacity building programmes for the Commission and the RECs so as to make work synergies viable and reliable and accelerate the integration process in Africa;

  • Prepare, in close collaboration with the RECs, requests to the European Union and other development partners for financing of projects that will enhance continental integration;

  • Identify the common supporting programmes relative to implementation of EPAs at the level of the RECs;

  • Mobilize African research institutes, including the ECA, to appraise the adjustment and other costs of EPAs on African economies.

  1. STRONGLY RECOMMENDS that efforts between the Commission and the RECs be further strengthened and coordinated in the second phase of negotiations, especially with regard to priorities and roadmaps set for negotiations so as to ensure that the process of continental integration in Africa is deepened in accordance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union;

  2. WELCOMES the establishment of the Joint AU-EU Monitoring Mechanism whose objective is to ensure, through exchange of information and discussion of key issues, the consistency and coherence of the EPA process with Africa’s plans and aspirations for regional and continental integration and the establishment of a Pan- African Market and the promotion of synergies between the EPA process and ACP-EU cooperation, notably in the context of regional indicative programmes;

  3. URGES the Commission and the EU to operationalise the mechanism in an effective manner so as to ensure that EPAs indeed enhance the regional integration process and development in Africa as well as the building of regional markets through the effective removal of production, supply and trade constraints;

  4. ALSO URGES the EU to grant access to the Commission as an integration organization to EDF resources for projects of a continental nature;

  5. REQUESTS the Commission to report on progress made on the EPA negotiations to the 7th Ordinary Session of Council in July 2005.

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